


Fortune Favours the Brave

by shibo226



Series: Rewriting Destiny [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Canon-Typical Violence, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fix-It, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sibling Bonding, Swearing, Vanya Hargreeves Deserves Better, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Watching the Show, Watching the umbrella academy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:21:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 23,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26231854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shibo226/pseuds/shibo226
Summary: After landing in 2019 the Umbrella Academy is faced with the new reality that is they no longer exist, replaced instead with the 'superior' (in their father's opinion) Sparrow Academy. After being kicked to the curb they find themselves staring down a dark and hopeless path. Until a strange woman whom the Commission would very much prefer remain dead kidnaps them with a wave of her hand, dumping them literally into nowhere and offering them an impossible chance...the chance to learn and do better. A chance to try again. At least that's what she claims she's doing, Five isn't so sure. But then again Five is a paranoid old man.TLDR: The Umbrella Academy is forced to watch the TV show in an attempt to show them where they went wrong and how NOT the mess everything up the second time around. If they so choose of course.IMPORTANT: 14 oct 20 : The author has just entered final exam season and is on a temporary hiatus until mid November when his exams are finished and he has recovered. Thank you for your patience and please wish him luck for his History exam. He is going to need it
Series: Rewriting Destiny [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928788
Comments: 62
Kudos: 239





	1. Fortune has an idea

**Author's Note:**

> Pretty much your standard run of the mill "Characters react to the show/book/movie" because I love this genre of fic but there is next to no fics of this beyond one I found several hundred fics ago....I will link when I refind it... but there aren't many so gotta write it myself.
> 
> I can't guarantee a regular update schedule, but I will endeavour to try and post semi-regularly...these are going to be very long chapters, so I hope the wait is worth it!

Their triumphant return to the future - present – hadn’t quite gone according to plan, not that there had been any kind of plan, to begin with, but if there had been a plan this certainly was not how it was meant to go.  Yes, it appeared that they had managed to unwrite the  apocalypse from history... and managed to unwrite the Umbrella Academy while they were at it.

Looking  back, it probably should have been obvious that their less than stellar ‘performance’ when confronting their ‘father’ in 1963 should have been the first hint that  perhaps approaching him at all wasn’t the best course of action. One could even argue that it was downright naïve and stupid of them to assume that when faced with the reality of his actions he would have the human decency to reflect on his actions and strive to be better this time around. Because of course, he wouldn’t. He? Sir Reginald  Hargreeves ? Ever take accountability for his own actions? Never in a thousand lifetimes.

Fortuna had checked.

So of course, he came to the ‘logical’ conclusion that the fault must lie in the members of the Umbrella Academy themselves, not him, so this time around sought out different children, after all, he had 43 to choose from, narrowing down the six he needed to avoid the ‘ disaster ’ that was the Umbrella Academy really wasn’t all that difficult. And thus, the Sparrow Academy was born.

And yet....it still broke their hearts. On some deep level they had still believed that their father must have cared for them on some level...if not as his children, as people...then at least for their potential!

_ Poor dears _ Fortuna frowned as she watched the confrontation unfold, following as the six remaining members of the former academy fled from what had once been their home into a world not their own. She had always liked them...especially Five. During his time at the commission, he had been the only one to ever show her a kindness, although she wasn’t entirely sure if simply not shooting her counted as a kindness. But he actively acknowledged her, despite the very, VERY strict Commission protocol that she was NOT to be acknowledged in any shape or form and was to be immediately eliminated on sight.

Not that shooting her ever seemed to do much but inconvenience her for a few hours.

Although after the most recent ‘incident’ things had been a lot more peaceful at HQ. Herb was nice, Herb didn’t immediately shoot her on sight. Leaving her to tinker around with the Infinite Switchboard to her heart's desire. Maybe he had an idea of what she was planning and was willing to look the other way to help out his new friends, which was possible, Afterall he of all people would probably have a decent idea of what she was. Or maybe they were just  stretched far too thin and more concerned with the fact the  Commission had literally just been wiped clean and needed to be built from the ground up again...or maybe they were just too scared to approach her.

Whatever the reason  it suited Fortuna just fine, she hummed a familiar tune as she pulled thick tapes from the Infinite Switchboard, placing them into protective cases before dropping them carefully into the bag at her feet.

Besides, it really didn’t matter even IF they had an idea of what she was doing. There was nothing they could do to stop her, even if they wanted to. Not now she had been set free

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The six siblings found themselves where they always seemed to find themselves when the world was turned upside down. In the Bowling Alley. None of the siblings were talking to each other, all caught up in their own storms.

Luther sat hunched as much as his giant shoulders would allow, unable to get their fathers words out of his head. “Number One” he had called Ben-not-Ben Number one. He wasn’t number one here. He had been replaced. They had all been replaced. Like disposable toys. Toy soldiers. Number One. He had replaced them...

Deigo would be sitting arms crossed, knee bouncing aggressively one moment, before a pained furrow of his brows would set in, quickly masked by a snarl after which he would push himself to his feet, knife twirling between his fingers as he muttered beneath his breath. Thoughts torn between being tossed aside like a broken toy, replaced like they were just faulty parts of a machine, and the lung  crushing agony that was Lila...she left him behind. With a snarl, he buried those feelings under the growing hate for their bastard father.

Allision had come to the world-shattering realization that in this lifetime Claire very likely had never been born. Curled in her seat, face in her hands she thought with every ounce of her being not to break down screaming and banging against the ground. Her baby. Her little girl was never born. She was never going to see the light of her life again. She couldn’t do much to stop the tears and muffled sobs.

Klaus...Klaus sat in his seat, bowling ball cradled in his lap staring absently at nothing, eyes glazed over with grief. Everything hurt. His head hurt. His chest hurt. His ears hurt from the screaming ghosts clawing at him for his attention. Most of all his heart hurt. Ben. But not Ben. That wasn’t his Ben. His Ben was gone...gone forever.

Vanya sat quietly, hands in her laps as she stared down at them, trying  desperately to block out the invasive noises of the bowling alley. The bright, loud, penetrating screeching and banging and shouting. Not for the first time she longed to return to Sissy, Harlan and the quiet of the farm. Her heart was heavy with sorrow and guilt...because when you got down to it...this was all her fault, wasn’t it?

And then there was Five.

Five hadn’t stopped moving from the moment they had fled from their former home. Now stuck in the small space that was their lane he paced back and forth, one hand drawing equations in the air, the other clutching a takeaway coffee mug so hard it was starting to crumple. He had finished it some time ago, he probably needed more. Fuck he needed more coffee. Because something had gone wrong somewhere and he needed to figure out what! Needed to figure out which of his calculations had been off. Why? Why? Why?

The six siblings were so caught up in their thoughts they didn’t even notice the alley around them had fallen completely silent. Until that is Vanya glanced up, suddenly realizing the pressure of keeping the sound  ** in ** wasn’t there anymore. Her brown eyes met with cloudy white.

“Good afternoon” Fortuna smiled at the stunned woman, “Or is it morning? No matter! How are-”

She was cut off by a blade planting itself firmly in her skull between her eyes, her body tilting backwards as her body shut itself down.   
“Deigo!” He wasn’t sure which of his siblings shouted, “What the fuck!”   
“She’s dangerous!” He snapped, another knife already in hand “She’s from the Commission!”

The others turned their head to Five to confirm, the boy having already pulled the gun hiding in his waistband out, pointing it towards the fallen body,

“He’s right. She is from The Commission's headquarters” He confirmed.   
“I’m not _from_ The Commission” she ignored the siblings gasp as she sat up, carefully pulling the knife from her head, the wound closing behind it, “I just happen to exist where they decided to place their Headquarters.”

“Five, Deigo, explain!” Luther ordered as he quickly stood, placing himself firmly between this strange immortal woman and his weaker siblings.

“I’m not here to hurt any of you, I’m here to offer you an opportunity" She  patiently explained,

“Bullshit!” Deigo spat

“Whatever it is we don’t want any part of it!” Five snapped, “There is a reason the Commission wanted you gone, and I’m not about to risk finding out why!”

His hands shook as she turned her white-eyed gaze towards him, although he could feel no malice or murderous intent from her, he knew from past experience that the best were able to mask their dangerous nature. Easier to lure targets into a false sense of security. Years of the Handlers warnings, and the fact every time she mentioned the strange woman her voice always wavered, just the smallest amount. His unease grew as the woman’s unnaturally pale face spread into a fond smile, showing a little bit too much teeth for his liking.

“I’ve always liked that about you Five”, the hairs on the back of his neck rose as she spoke his name, “All of you...” she trailed off, failing to  elaborate what she went.

“Are you god?” Klaus blurted out, the attention of everyone snapping to him as the words unexpectedly left his mouth.

Fortuna threw her head back as she laughed,   
“Oh goodness no. No nono. She would _not_ like that comparison one bit” she giggled. 

“But you’re not human” He pushed on, hands twitching at the all too familiar aura she was giving off.

“Klaus, what are you talking about?” Allison frowned as she looked between her siblings and the woman.

“My name is Fortuna” She introduced herself as she pushed herself back up, “And I am here to offer you a chance to undo” she waved her hands around at the frozen bowling alley, “all of this”

“And how exactly do you plan on doing that?” Luther questioned, puffing his chest as he attempted to take back some semblance of control,   
“Why?” The quiet question from Vanya spat heavily in the still room.   
“And why should we trust a single word you say?” Five spat.   


In Lieu of an answer Fortuna instead waved her hand slowly across the room, the six siblings screaming in surprise as the world  spun and melted away. Five even managed to fire several rounds into her head before the room around them finished materializing. They had all jumped together to create a protective circle as their eyes quickly scanned the room...it was a mini movie theatre?

Five was the fastest to access the situation. It was a small room with a screen up the front and three rows of plush leather couches sitting on a slightly raised platform. There was only one entrance and exit, the one Fortuna now stood in front of, smiling still as she held a bag in front of her.

What Five managed to miss in his examination of the room was the figure sitting on couch closest to the screen.

Klaus, however, had not.   


“Ben?” He choked out, recognizing that stupid hoodie anywhere.

Ben’s head snapped towards his brother, as the rest of them turned quickly at Klaus’s words. The silence was broken by Ben’s quiet and confused “Klaus?”   
“Ben!!!” This time it was all of his siblings screaming his name. The sudden realization that all of his siblings could see him freezing him to his seat as Klaus threw himself at his brother, wrapping his gangly arms around his brother. Their sisters following close behind, throwing themselves at their brother. Luther hovered protectively over them while Deigo stood torn between throwing himself at his brother and facing off with the still probably dangerous woman.

Only Five stood rooted in place, gun still aimed firmly at her head.   
“Where are we?” He demanded

“You are nowhere” The smile she continued to give him was really starting to fuck him off.   
“That’s not an answer. Where are we?! What do you want from us?! How did you bring Ben here?? Our Ben is gone!” He was going to murder someone if he didn’t get a straight answer out of this woman.   
“You are nowhere...literally. This is a pocket dimension of my own creation outside of time and space. For the time being, you are safe here. I want nothing from you. And as for Ben...” She turned her gaze to Klaus, who was staring at her with tear blurred eyes, “Let’s just say a little girl on a bike owes me a few favours” she winked

This time Five shot her purely out of frustration. Not that it seemed to do anything.

“Five!” Allison scolded, her own frustrations were starting to boil over, but shooting their captor willy nilly wasn’t getting them anywhere. Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth,   
“ _I heard a rumour that you told us exactly what you want and why we are here”_

The smile did not leave Fortuna’s face, a heavy weight sunk into their stomachs at her words   
“Rumors don’t work on me” a cold wave of shock fell over Allison. This wasn’t possible! Her rumours always worked, was there something wrong with her power??   
“There is nothing wrong with your power” Fortuna assured her, “All of your powers would work on me...bar yours. It's incompatible with my nature”

Sensing the family was reaching the end of their tether, Fortuna decided she had had enough fun for now,   
“I have bought you here so you may gain the knowledge you need to make an informed decision” She held up the bag she had with her, “You will find in here several tapes, they're all numbered. They are recordings of your timeline from the Infinite Switchboard that I was spliced together. I’ve even split them into two seasons for you...to help break up your viewing” She moved slowly but with purpose as she walked towards the front of the room. “You may take as long as you desire to watch them or if you so choose, not watch them at all. Once you are ready, I shall return and I can, again if you desire, return you to a timeline of your choosing, at your point of choosing to do with as you may”

As she gently placed the bag of tapes into Vanya’s startled hands, she turned back towards the siblings,   
“Beyond that door, you will find bedrooms, bathrooms and a kitchen stocked with anything you need or desire. It will know what you need just ask. As I said take as long as you need, I will return when you are ready”

She walked back towards the door, turning towards them one final time,   
“I must warn you; I can only offer you this opportunity once. If you choose not to watch the tapes and return and find yourself regretting your decision, or for any other reason...that will be the final choice.”

“Wait!” One of them shouted after her, she paused for one moment longer, not looking back to see who it was. “Please....why??”

“Surely you know the saying?” She turned her head back towards them, eyes closed as she smiles, “Fortune  favours the Brave”

And like that she was gone, leaving the newly reunited family alone.

With shaking hands Vanya pulled out the tape case at the top of the pile, reading the handwritten note on the side.

  
**The Umbrella Academy: Season 1: Episode 1: We Only See Each Other At Weddings and Funerals**


	2. We only see each other at weddings and funerals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The siblings manage to survive sitting through the first episode without killing each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, thank you for your patience! here is the first chapter! This is my first time doing this style of fic, so I'm still working out the formatting and writing style. Please let me know what you think in the comments!  
> Also as you may notice these chapters are going to be very long, so they are going to take some time to write.  
> I am a uni student and I am coming up to final assements and exams, as well as other planned events in my personal life.
> 
> as such I'm not going to have endless amounts of free time to focus solely on writing, this chapter alone has taken about 40-50 hours of writing. so PLEASE be patient, I have this fic planned out, and I will continue to post and update, but that is one of the costs of these long chapters.
> 
> with that all being said! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Their first instinct, well Diego’s first instinct at least, once Fortuna had closed the door behind her was to throw the door open again, running after her to demand answers. Much to his frustration and the others growing disappointment she was gone,   
“Ok here’s what we need to do” he immediately jumped into action, “We should split up and search this place from top to bottom and find the exit, then we get this fuck out of here before that freak gets back”   
“Ah yes brilliant idea Number Two” Five sarcastically snapped, “Except for the minor fact we are trapped in a dimensional bubble”   
“Hey, I thought we agreed no more numbers” Luther interjected,    
“What does that even mean?!” Diego promptly ignored him,   
“It means there _is no_ exit you singled celled paramecium” Five levelled him with a glare before throwing his arm up in gesture to the door, “If you want to waste your time and breathe searching for an exit that does not exist be my guest!”

“Well, what do you suggest then?” He snarled, “Oh great and mighty number five”   
Before Five could snap back another snarky answer Klaus was throwing the free arm not wrapped firmly around Ben’s arm in the hair, waving it wildly,   
“Oh! Oh! I know! I vote on movie night!” he suddenly gasped, “We could make popcorn! Maybe there’s some candy we can sneak in, you know make it a real theatre experience!”   
“You actually want to entertain that crazy bitch's psycho demands?” Diego shook his head in disbelief,   
“Well she didn’t really demand anything now did she” Allison had to point out, “She did say that it was our choice and if we didn’t want to, we didn’t have to”   
“Well I don’t want to” Diego huffed with his arms crossed.

The siblings fell into another round of arguing, no one agreeing on much of anything. Why should they watch it? How could they trust it? What could they  possibly gain? They were wasting time! How could they waste time where they were nowhere? They needed to focus on getting out of nowhere! 

As they argued in circles Vanya couldn’t help but fall to the side, once more finding herself just on the outskirts of the group. Not completely outside like she had once been, that was at least one pain she knew she would never have to endure. Dallas had bought them all together, mending and strengthening their weakened and broken bonds.

But maybe this was an  opportunity to keep those bonds from breaking at all?

“I think we should watch them” at first only Ben heard her, the others so caught up in their argument none of them paid their shortest sister any mind. The short burst of strength wilted almost as fast as it had bloomed, short-lived in the face of her  sibling's immense  stubbornness .

Not on  Ben s watch.

“I agree with Vanya” He loudly stated, his voice cutting through the loud arguments, killing them in their track. The shock of simply hearing his voice seemed to be enough to throw them all off guard he noted with no small amount of satisfaction, for now, he filed that information away for use.   
“What can we possibly gain from watching those! The psycho bitch said they’re recordings from our own timeline, we’ve already lived them! What value does watching event’s we’ve already lived give us?” Diego demanded.

“They might offer  you some insight to an event that you previously didn’t” Ben explained slowly in the voice he often used when explaining to Klaus that ecstasy was not in fact a food group, “Show you  a different perspective . And maybe show you what you did wrong so you can go back and  _ fix it” _

Silence fell across the room as his words sunk in.

“Do you think we can?” Vanya quietly questioned, “Fix it I mean...fix everything...fix...us” she weakly gestured.   
Five stared at his sister's hopeful face, turning to Ben’s annoying smug expression, then scanning over the rest of his siblings. The last two weeks had been...a lot, an absolute shit show of nothing going the way it was supposed to. Every single plan, every equation falling through at the most crucial point...   
“Maybe” he started, “Maybe it wouldn’t hurt...to get the full picture before we attempt to fix any temporal anomalies...again”   
“That a yes?” Ben quirked an eyebrow at him.   
  
Five crossed his arms with a glare, but he didn’t protest any further,   
“That’s four against three, majority rules” Ben announced grinning,   
“Five against two” Allison corrected.   
“Oi, oi! What happened to Team zero!” Diego glared, “Isn’t it meant to be we all agree or not at all”   
“If that’s the case then I also agree” Luther spoke again,   
“What the hell man!” Diego snapped,

Luther raised his arms in defence,   
“We are outnumbered, and...it wouldn’t hurt to know more would it?” Maybe these DVD’s would be able to show him exactly where he failed as Number One...where he failed as their leader... maybe it’d show him where they went wrong with their father.   
“Fine!” Diego threw his arms up in frustration, “We will watch these stupid movies. But don’t say I didn’t warn you when it all turns to shit”

With a satisfied nod, Ben gestured to Vanya to put the  DVD into the projector, she was  probably the only one in the room capable of  operating one anything. As she set it up Klaus flicked off the lights ‘ _ For an authentic experience’  _ and everyone settled into a couch. Luther took up two-thirds of a three-seater, with Allison smiling fondly next to him. Vanya Klaus and Ben were crammed into one two-seater, Vanya had offered to move but Klaus  wouldn’t hear a word of it. Diego claimed an entire two-seater for himself with a  scowl while Five found himself perched on the arm of another, desperately wishing for a cup of coffee. At this point,  he’d even take the poor excuse of bean juice that Klaus brewed. He blinked in surprise when a cup materialized between his fingers. He gave it a cautious sniff before shrugging, not really caring if it was poisoned at this point.

And then  finally , the projector came to life.

** The screen opened to the bottom of a swimming pool, as the shot panned up showing the woman partaking in some swimming class a title card appeared on screen, **

** Russia, October 1, 1989 **

**_ “ _ ** That’s the day we were born!” Allision gasps,  Five resists the urge to roll his eyes, they were barely a few seconds in and already there were interruptions

** The scene continues with a woman leading the group, speaking in Russian. It then shows a shot of a girl in a yellow swimsuit and a boy in a speedo. The USSR’s flag proudly hung on the wall behind them as they shyly exchanged glances, smiling sweetly at each other. **

“Aww, they’re sweethearts!” Klaus cooed before being shushed.

** They watched as the two continued to flirt until being interrupted by the strict instructor. The woman gave the boy a quick peck on the cheek before running and diving into the pool. It was taking some time for the woman to resurface.  ** Allison gasped as the water became clouded with blood  ** the ** ** boy cried out the girl's name until she burst to the surface, the other women in the water screaming in terror as her belly suddenly expanded and grew as if she were suddenly full term with pregnancy. **

“That’s one of us!” someone gasped,   
“Well it’s one of our mothers” Allision corrected, before frowning and turning to Vanya, “Weren’t you born in Russia?”   
Vanya nodded slowly with her eyes fixed on the screen, heart suddenly racing. This was her mother?

** The scene continued with the suddenly pregnant women giving birth on the side of the  ** ** pool, as ** ** the ‘child began to scream, being presented to the sobbing mother, they could hear  ** ** Pogo’s ** ** voice suddenly speaking, **

** “On the 12 ** ** th ** ** hour of the first day of October 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth-” **

“43?” Diego frowned, “You mean there are more of us? I mean sure I knew Lila was one of us but there’s even more?”   
“Well, that explains how dad was able to replace us so easily” Five muttered into his coffee, although he did wonder how Reginald knew which babies to avoid.

** “-This was unusual only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began.” **

** The  ** ** scene ** ** changes to a sweeping shot of Moscow's skyline as Pogo continued **

** “Sir Reginald  ** ** Hargreeves ** ** ,”  ** Klaus booed, ** “eccentric  ** ** billionaire ** ** and  ** ** adventurer resolved ** ** to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible.” **

**They watched as the screen showed their father dressed in what could only be described as** **adventuring** **gear marched towards the group, the young mother** **cradling** **her sudden child,**   
**“Extraordinary!” he exclaimed, as he removed a glove reaching down to touch the child,** to touch Vanya

“ ** How much do you want for it?” he didn’t ask, he demanded. **

**“** It?!” several voices shouted in horror,   
“How much?!” Allision spat, “He bought her?! Like some kind of pet?!”   
“He probably bought all of Allision” Diego snarked, with far less venom than usual, sure their father was an evil bastard, but not this evil.   
Luther shifted uncomfortably at the scene in front of him, sure he had come to accept in the last few years that their father was a bastard...still, it wasn’t easy when faced with exactly how much of a bastard he was.

** The screen went black as white text appeared. **

** HE GOT SEVEN OF THEM. **

The siblings all shifted uncomfortably at the implication,   
“Worst beanie baby collection ever” Klaus snorted to himself, earning an elbow jab and glare from Ben.

** They watched as their father marched down the street, followed by seven numbered prams being pushed by seven nannies all in  ** ** identical ** ** uniforms towards a house, their house, what would become the Umbrella Academy. **

** The scene changed again, another title card flashing on the screen **

** TODAY **

** “ ** Well that’s helpful” Diego muttered, “What could mean any day”

** They watched as a woman carefully placed down a wooden case, opening it delicately to reveal a violin. The camera panning to the woman’s face as she placed the bow to the strings, **

**“** Holy shit that’s me” Vanya breathed at the same time Klaus announced,   
“It’s Vanya!”

There was something distinctly unnerving about seeing herself on screen, even with the foreknowledge of the fact these movies were about their lives, it still came as a shock to see herself. She watched herself begin to play on screen, immediately identifying the piece as “Phantom of the Opera” she watched transfixed as the bow slid across the strings,

** An alarm cut through the music, cutting to a dark room illuminated by the red lights of an alarm 23:28, a hand slamming down.  ** Diego let out a  snort as Luther’s figure took centre screen, scratching his ass. Luther flushed bright pink; did they really have to show that ?  **** ** The camera followed  ** ** him, showing ** ** his small quarters, with only a small green plant as his only companion. Luther donned a spacesuit, before the screen moved to show him leaving the space bunker. **

**NUMBER 1**   
**“LUTHER”**

Luther’s hands twitched as he watched himself perform his  mundane duties, eyes scanning across the limited amount of scenery, the small scene  failing to give a true sense of just how  incredibly vast,  dark and empty space really was. He gave a small s hudder, nor did it show just how easily that vast empty darkness crept into your soul

**As the tempo of the music picked up the** **scene** **changed,** **almost as** **equally dark as the moon had been, instead they watched as a family was being robbed at gunpoint in their own home,**   
**“Show me where the safe is or your family’s dead!” one of the criminals shouted,**   
**the terrified family screaming in fear behind their gags.**   
**“Just leave us alone!” the man who must have been the father begged.**

** As if answering the man’s plea for mercy another figure moved onto screen, swiftly and efficiently snapping the neck of one of the home invaders, the ‘camera’ centring on Diego. **

** NUMBER TWO **

“ ** DIEGO” **

  
The man had started to grin smugly as he watched himself kick the ever-loving shit out of the home invaders, he had to admit the fast-paced dramatic violin music that continued to play in the background made it even cooler.   
His pride was quickly squashed with Klaus bursting into laughter, pointing at the screen   
“You’re still wearing that stupid domino mask!?” He turned back to grin at the Diego in the room, “Holy crap that’s so lame!”   
Diego felt his ears burn as he stuttered out a “Fuck you”

Five fought the urge the bash their heads in with the now empty coffee mug, they could barely go a few seconds let alone a few minutes without interrupting with their stupid commentary. He filled the cup to refill with something stronger and was deeply  disappointed when it refilled only with coffee.

** The scene has shifted now to a red carpet, ‘camera’ trailing behind the train of a dark red dress. It was easy enough to guess who it was, if the photoshoot-style setup and what could only be a wave of  ** ** media ** ** and  ** ** paparazzi ** ** stood, camera’s flashing. **

** NUMBER THREE **

** “ALLISON” **

**** It still took Vanya and her brother’s breath away when the ‘camera’ turned to show Allisions confident smile.

Allison however  couldn’t quite place how she felt as she watched herself smile and pose for the  reporters . Once upon a time she would have puffed up her feathers proudly and preened at the attention, basked in her siblings' awe of her. But watching it now? It almost felt...empty

** Vanya was back on screen, illuminated on a dark stage by a single blue overhead as the music continued to flow from her fingers.  ** Her siblings watched on with the growing realization they had never seen her play,  _ really _ play. The last time didn’t count either.

** The scene jumped to the next ‘character’  **

** NUMBER FOUR **

** “KLAUS” **

**Klaus jumped down from the top** **bunk** **of wherever it was he was staying dressed in the same clothes he would later attend their** **father's** **funeral in,** not that that helped establish when “Today” was. Luther had been on the moon for years, Diego never kept track of the scum he was punching daily, and Allison had been to so many of those kinds of interviews they all blurred into one. And Klaus? If he recalled he had been wearing that particular outfit for...awhile   
“I miss that coat” he whined, being shushed by Ben

“ **Hey you stay strong!” on-screen Klaus patted another man on the arm “I** **believe** **in you. Okay!”**   
**“You not so much” He and the man had a laughed together**

 **Klaus waved his hand at the men wishing him goodbye as he waltzed to the window counter where a very tired looking man stood waiting for him, placing down the small plastic zip-lock that had been Klaus’s worldly possessions before entering whichever rehab this was.**   
**“See you soon Klaus” The man spoke as if it were a** **certainty** **, tossing him the golden ‘** **30 day** **sober’ token, “Stay sober!” he called after Klaus as he left the centre.**

 **“** How long did that last?” Diego snorted, kicking the back of the couch Klaus was sitting on,   
“Hey!” Klaus held his hand to his chest in mock hurt, “I can’t believe my own brother would doubt my sobriety struggles. That hurts Diego”   
“It lasted less than a few hours” Ben informed him,   
“Ben!” Klaus gasped, “Betrayed by my own brother! That’s it! Vanya is my favourite now!” He grabbed Vanya’s arm, sticking his tongue out at Ben.   
No one questioned how Ben knew that when he should have been dead.

 **The camera switches back to Vanya for a few moments before looping back to Luther. Standing behind a makeshift seat as he stared first at earth, the camera panning out to show a bit more of the scenery. The vast absolute** **blackness** **of space.** It still paled in comparison to the real thing.   
**The device on** **Luther's** **wrist,**   
**“** ** _Incoming transmission”_**

 **They watched as Luther read the screen, his arm slowly dropping as his face dropped in confusion, denial and then finally acceptance.** That’s when it hit Luther,   
“This is the day dad dies” He remembered that transmission as if it were physically etched into his mind. It had been the first contact from earth he had received in months...or was its years? Space had a way of melting time.

 **The scene cut back to Diego as he picked up his knives, informing the family he had just saved they were safe now.** **The sudden** **“Breaking news” tune from the TV that had been left running caught his attention,**   
**“** ** _We come to you now with breaking news,”_** **the newscaster said**

 **They jumped once more to Allison, who continued to pose for the hungry camera’s, they watched as the media men briefly conversed before the calls for photos quickly changed,**   
**“Allision have you heard the news?!”**   
**“When was the last time you saw your father?”**   
**“Have you heard from your brothers?”** Vanya couldn’t help the dull ache that there was no mention of a sister but quickly buried it,   
**Allision looked between the reporters in confusion at the sudden change of questioning as her assistant quickly appeared behind her, obviously whispering her the news,**   
**“Allision will you wear Valentino to the funeral?”**

“That’s how you found out?” Vanya turned her head to her sister frowning in concern,   
“Jesus” Diego muttered, “Absolute heartless vultures”   
Ben and Klaus nodded in agreement while Luther looked down at his thick dark palms, unsure if he should offer her a hand of support or not,   
“That’s the paparazzi for you” She shrugged it off, watching as her onscreen counterpart was quickly moved off-screen.

** They watched as Klaus walked down a dark alley, shaking hands with a hooded stranger, trading off a small plastic package that he kissed in excitement. Within moments he was in the back of an ambulance, his heart being shocked back to life, he shot up gasping and laughing before high fiving the medic with his ‘goodbye’ hand. **

**“** Wait a minute!” Allision gasped, turning to him, “You overdosed?!”   
“No!” Klaus brushed it off the same time Ben replied. “Yes”   
“Not the first time by the sounds of it” Luther frowned,   
“Just how many times have you nearly died?!” Diego demanded,   
“Oh, so _now_ you care” Klaus shot back sarcastically, whining when Ben pinched him. He was getting very tired of this whole ‘Ben actually being able to hit him now’ business,” What it’s true! No one ever gave a shit before”

“You never called” Vanya frowned at him softly,   
“Would you have picked up?” He challenged her,   
“Yes. I would have” she surprised him with how firmly she stated it.   
“Well it doesn’t matter now, it’s all in the past now. Water under the bridge and what have you” He tried waving them off again, starting to get very uncomfortable with how close they were getting to touching on something deep.   
“This conversation isn’t over” He was promised, he did not like the smug look on Ben’s face.

 **The small tv in the back of the ambulance flashed on, another news report,**   
**“Moments** **ago,** **police-reported the death of the most eccentric and reclusive** **billionaire** **” the news reported.**

 **“** Jesus one would think that phones hadn’t been invented yet” Five muttered as he sipped on his coffee,” what if they hadn’t reported dear old dad’s death?”   
“I'm sure Pogo would have found some way to contact us” Luther offered weakly,   
“I wouldn’t be getting too high on that communication horse Five” Ben glanced at him, causing Five to scowl back at him momentarily, but couldn’t hold onto the annoyance...not at Ben.

** The scene finally returned to Vanya, the ‘camera’ panning out as the house lights slowly glowed brighter, showing her standing online on the theatre staged, bathed in the spotlights ** ** looking ** ** tiny ** ** amongst the empty seating and stage. **

** NUMBER SEVEN **

** “VANYA” **

**“** Woo! Bravo!!” Klaus clapped and whooped as onscreen Vanya finished the piece, causing the Vanya next to him flush bright pink, shrinking back into the couch. She knew he was trying to be supportive but she couldn’t help the underlying paranoia that he was somehow making fun of her.   
Ben leaned around his disruptive brother to smile at his sister.   
“I’d missed hearing you play,” he told her kindly, “You’ll have to play for me again sometime soon” She felt her heart clench and warm at the same time,   
“Just no blowing up the moon this time” Diego couldn’t help up jab, although there was no bite behind his words,   
“As long as you don’t drive a whole timeline into the ground trying to save another president” she had meant to mutter under her breath, but it had come out quite a bit louder than intended.

Five almost choked on his mouthful of coffee, while Klaus howled in joy, the others joining in the snickering as Diego’s mouth hung open at the uncharacteristic snark. When had Vanya grown such a dry sense of humour?!

Probably sometime after fully regaining her memories while no longer being drowned in the weight that was her meds if she had to guess.

** They watched as Vanya slowly walked,  ** ** almost zombie-like ** ** , down the side of the street with her head down. At  ** ** first, ** ** they  ** ** didn’t ** ** even realize she was even the focus of the shot until shown a  ** ** close up ** ** of her face. A TV in a shop window caught her attention, they watched as she walked closer, watching the news report. The same one they had all already seen. A photo of Reginald  ** ** Hargeeves ** ** on screen while the news castor read off the news of his  ** ** untimely ** ** demise. **

**Unlike the others, they watched as the ‘camera’ focused on her face, her confused and lost expression,**   
**“Dad” left her lips quietly as if she** **couldn’t** **believe her eyes.**

Vanya frowned as she scoured her memories for this moment, trying to pull to the surface what emotions she felt as the news of her father's death was broken...she could vaguely remember standing in front of the store and could  remember the numbness...but the meds made everything vague and numb. Even the most important of memories were fuzzed around the edges.

** They watched as the show faded between shots of Vanya’s journey back to the Umbrella Academy, staring  ** ** almost ** ** blankly out of a taxi window, and sweeping shots of the inside of their home. First the main living area, to their mum’s wall of paintings, their coat of arms proudly displayed in intricate metalwork to finally the family portrait. Sir Reginald  ** ** Hargreeves ** ** with his six children standing proudly beside him. **

No one spoke, but there was an uncomfortable weight in the air, like an unspoken rule. They all knew, to some degree and on some level that Vanya had always been the outcast of the family. They had all internalized and made their own justifications. The portrait made it a lot harder to  consciously brush aside the fact that  perhaps her exclusion was more intentional than they liked to acknowledge.

** The painting then morphed,  ** ** Five ** ** slowly  ** ** disappearing ** ** from the frame, **

** “ ** Nice to know he updated the  official family portrait after I left” Five scoffed, once upon a time the obvious removal from the family narrative would have hurt, but now as an old man? His father’s attempts to scrub away his failings was honestly  kind of funny .

** The portrait faded from view, showing instead the large single portrait Reginald had hung in the Library instead. From the outside one might view it as an act of mourning, a memorial to the lost boy’s memory. The umbrella Academy knew better.  ** It was a warning.

“When did he even get that commissioned?!” Klaus blurted, “Does he just have a stash of paintings of us hidden somewhere in case one of us cops it?”   
“Don’t be ridiculous” Allision rolled her eyes, “Ben didn’t get a painting”   
“He did get a statue though” Luther pointed out, Allision turned to him in shock,   
“That does sound like something the old bastard would do” Diego nodded in agreement.

Allision looked at each of her brothers in complete disbelief at how utterly stupid they were sounding, her eyes met Vanya’s begging that at least her sister have some kind of common sense. Vanya was trying very hard to hide a smile at her brother's antics,   
“ _At least they’re agreeing for once”_ She mouthed to Allision, her shoulders sunk in defeat...she couldn’t argue with that.

She groaned when the next shot happened to be of Ben’s statue, with Klaus throwing an arm to point at the screen,   
“See! I told you so!”   


** The next painting was showed them again, older this time, a little less proud, standing just a little further apart. They watched as Ben too faded from the portrait. The only one whose pose remain unchanged was  ** ** Luther's ** **. ** The others knew how hard Klaus had taken Ben’s death, it was another thing to watch as the Klaus in the portrait became  more and more withdrawn and  sullen .

**Finally,** **on-screen Vanya stepped out of the Taxi, staring up at the tall and** **foreboding** **building that had once been her home. Pushing open the double glass doors she stepped inside for what was** **probably the** **first time in years. They watched as she hesitantly walked deeper into the atrium, gazing around as if she had stepped back in time.**   
**“Hey mom” she called out softly turning to see their mother, who was sitting quietly staring into the fire, completely unresponsive to her daughter's calls,**   
**“Mom?”**

They all glanced towards Diego, who swallowed thickly as their mom’s face was shown on screen, make up elegantly applied and not a single strand of curled hair out of place. They had all felt the pang of loss but knew Diego had hurt most from the loss of their mother.   
_The loss she caused_ A cruel voice in the back of Vanya’s head gleefully reminded her, _their_ _mother's death lay purely in her hands_ Vanya clenched her hands and gave her head a shake as if she could physically shake the thoughts from her mind.

“ **Vanya?” On-screen Vanya turned at the sound of her name, “You’re actually here” Allision chuckled as she walked down the stairs.**   
**“Hey Allision” Vanya stumbled out awkwardly, not knowing quite how to respond,**   
**“Hey sis”**   
**Allison continued to approach until she was standing just a few feet in front of Vanya but made no move to walk closer. They stood staring at each other for a few moments longer, neither sure what move to make.**   
  
**“** I don’t remember that meeting being that awkward” Allision frowned for a moment, “Do you?”   
“That entire day was one long period of awkward” Vanya shrugs,   
Allison continued to frown at herself onscreen, she knew from outwards appearances it looked like she was being perfectly warm and welcoming, especially when her onscreen counterpart chuckled, reaching out to hug her sister.

But she liked to think she knew herself well enough to know when she was being  genuinely warm and loving and when she was acting...in her memories, she had been nothing but open to Vanya on that day, had extended an olive branch that at the time she didn’t believe Vanya deserved...but looking at it from the couch in the middle of nowhere? She  couldn’t believe how cold she was being.

The way onscreen Vanya’s face all but crumbled during the hug dug the knife a little deeper, she had schooled her expression before pulling away so Allision  didn’t see the first time they had lived through it, but watching it now? It broke her heart. When was the last time Vanya had been hugged at this point? Guilt began to worm  its way into the exterior of her thoughts...if this is how she had always been... maybe she could understand a little why Vanya wrote what she had.

“ ** Ah. What is she doing here?” Diego snapped as he stormed onto screen, “You don’t belong here. Not after what you did” he  ** ** didn’t ** ** even give Vanya a second glance as he walked right past her, she wasn’t worth his words let alone his attention. **

Diego frowned at his past self, he knew he had been angry about the stupid book, fuck even know he still harboured the  embers of resentment... embers he was  surprised to find were quickly dying. In the face of two apocalypses, losing the love of his life twice and now facing the possibility the world and life he knew may be gone forever...a petty tell-all book  really just didn’t hold the same weight it used to. And after Dallas...even when she had no memories of what she had done, she had  immediately apologized, which had taken the wind right out of his sails.

Unlike his onscreen counterpart Diego watched as Vanya wilted before his eyes, her gaze immediately dropping to the floor as she tried to make herself seem even smaller. And Jesus had she always been that small? Even standing next to Allision at her full height she seems so small.   
“Ow!” He cried when something hit his head hard, “He glared up at Five who had managed to get his hands-on mini bean bags.

_ He HAD asked for something  _ _ considerably harder _ _ than bean bags but  _ _ he’d _ _ take what the room would give _ .

“What the fuck?!” Diego snapped at Five,   
“Vanya belongs there as much as anyone else” Five glared, “Is this how you were treating her ever since I got stuck?”   
“What no! Only after that stupid book-OW" this time the bean bag hit him in the back of the head,    
“Five it’s ok” Vanya reached out to lay a hand on his arm, “Really it’s fine it doesn’t matter”   
Five turned to argue further, a protective fire lit in his chest, but meeting Vanya’s pleading eyes he dropped the bean bag he was holding. For now.

“ **You’re seriously** **gonna** **do this today?” Allision sighed with her hands on her hips, looking very much like she was about to go into full mother lecture mode. They watched as Diego walked up the stairs, giving no further** **acknowledgement** **to either of his sisters,**   
**“Way to dress for the occasion by the way” She called after him,**   
**“At least I'm wearing black” he shot back.**

 **“** ah yes, black bondage gear very appropriate” Klaus nodded wisely,   
“Like You can talk!” Diego snapped back, “You weren’t even wearing pants to the funeral”   
“Oh, Diego please, pants are so last century” Klaus rolled his eyes dramatically.

 **Vanya thought to keep the tears down, fidgeting for a few moments as she tried to pull her** **thoughts** **into order,**   
**“You know what? I—Maybe he’s right...and I shouldn’t--” She had already started to turn away, fully prepared to run from the scorn of her family.**

Once upon a time it would have bought Diego much satisfaction to hear those words come from his mouth, to know he had hurt her even a fraction of what she had done him. But watching his sister  literally begin to crack and backtrack before him...his gut twisted and his mouth was dry. It brought nothing of the sort.

“ ** Forget about him” Allision cut her off, “ ** ** I'm ** ** glad  ** ** you're ** ** here” **

**Vanya offered her sister a quirked half-smile that fell quickly from her face as the weight of the awkward silence fell upon them once, unable to look at the other for too longe before glancing away.**   
**“** I meant that by the way” The current Allision cut in, “I was really glad to see you” this time actually offering a smile   
“Thanks...I was too” Vanya smiled back.   
When Klaus made a gross “aww” followed by barfing noises Allison took advantage of one of the beanbags Five had dropped, tossing it at her brothers' head.

 **The scene changed again, a figure that could only be Luther standing beside an empty bed, their** **fathers'** **bed. They had never been in their fathers' room; it was one of the many rooms that had been completely off limits.**   
**“** What are you doing?” Allison asked with a confused frown,   
Luther’s ears flushed pink as he looked away in quiet shame, they would quickly realize what he had been up to...and the stupid conclusions he was going to jump to.

 **Diego walked down the hallway with a purpose, as if he knew exactly where his brother was going to be and exactly why. He leaned against the doorway for a** **moment** **, watching as Luther was carefully** **inspecting** **the curtained windows,**   
**“I can save you some time” you could hear the eye-roll in his words, “They’re all locked.” Luther then turned to acknowledge Diego who had now wandered into the room. No way he was passing up on the opportunity to explore the forbidden room.**

 **“No forced entry, no sign of struggle. Nothing out of the ordinary” It was then that Diego finally got a good look at Luther,**   
**“Oh, you got big Luther,” Diego said almost mockingly, “** **What’s** **the secret, huh?** **Protein** **shakes? Low carbs?”**

Diego winced at his past words, knowing what he knew now...yeah it was a dick move, and even he had to admit his words were cruel. He licked his suddenly dry lips as his words failed to form in his too dry mouth, he had a feeling this was going to be a common occurrence during this viewing,   
“Wow low blow bro” Klaus whistled, because of course he had to comment, “That’s a dick move even for you”   
“Oh, like you’d have said any different?” He pushed back defensively,   
“Guys it’s fine” Luther jumped in, “No need to keeping bringing it up”   
“No, he’s right” Diego reluctantly grumbled, “It was a dick move...sorry ‘about that”   
Luther blinked in surprise at the apology, even with them all getting along much better after Dallas...he hadn’t been expecting an apology, least of all from Diego.

“ **What do you want?” Luther asked, not taking the obvious bait.**   
**Diego rolled his eyes, then with more emphasis than was necessary he pulled a** **bundle** **of paper from his pocket, holding it out to Luther,**   
**“The autopsy report” he explained. Luther reached out to grab the papers, just as hid fingers brushed the paper Diego pulled the papers back out of reach,**   
**“Ah!” he grinned devilishly at his brother, before finally handing them other.**

Vanya glanced at Allision,  suppressing a giggle when she rolled her eyes dramatically  _ boys. _

_“_ **And you have this why?” Luther asked suspiciously as he opened and quickly scanned the papers,**   
**“Well, that’s because I... broke into the coroner’s office.” Diego told him as if it were the most obvious answer in the world, “Ans surprise, surprise, dad’s death was...normal. Just a boring, old heart failure”**

 **“** Wrong!” Klaus sang,   
“See I was right to be suspicious!” Luther defended him,   
“You were still wrong about the murder!” Diego shot back,   
“you were both wrong” Allision snapped at them.   
  
Five leaned down so only Vanya could hear,   
“In all fairness to Luther, Diego was very quick to murdering dad in 1963.” His chest tightened when Vanya’s hand flew to her mouth to suppress the laugh,   
“And what are you two giggling about?” Diego turned his ire to them,   
“Nothing you’d be able to understand” Five waved him off, turning his attention back to the screen. He didn’t want to miss more than a moment longer than was needed. He’d already missed so much of his family’s life.

“ **Yeah, so?” Luther shrugged**   
**“So, why are you in here?” Diego pushed, “Checking all the windows?”**   
**“Were you the first one on the scene?”**   
**“Pogo found him” The conversation was quickly** **losing** **the playful** **undertone** **,**   
**“Yeah, I talked to Pogo. He said he couldn’t find dad’s** **monocle** **”**

At the mention of the monocle, all six of the siblings let out a pained groan of annoyance and frustration, while Luther once more flushes pink,   
“I swear to god that stupid thing caused more grief than there should have been” Allison turned her head to glare at her brothers,   
“If Diego had just said that he had it wouldn’t have been a big an issue” Luther tried defending,   
“If I had you would have shut mom down!” Diego snapped, “And you _still_ would have made an issue out of it!”   
“You’re both morons for jumping to conclusions and acting upon assumptions instead of stopping and talking and actually listening to each other” Ben cut in, “So much drama and pain could have been avoided if anyone in this family just learned to talk and listen.   
  
This cut all further arguments dead,   
“I don’t remember Ben that cut throat” Diego muttered, “Or judgmental”   
“Ha! Now you understand the pain I’ve been living with for years” Klaus dramatically declared, throwing his arms around Vanya in an attempt to escape Ben’s ‘meanness’ sometimes blunt tough love was the only way to get through their family's thick heads. And now that they could actually hear him, he wasn’t about to waste a single moment.

“ **And your point being?” Diego asked,**   
**“Can you** **think** **of a single time you saw dad and he wasn’t wearing that** **monocle** **?” Luther asked.**   
**Diego** **didn’t** **respond.**   
**“No. Which means someone took it” Luther concluded,**

** “ ** I wasn’t wrong” Luther quietly mumbled, earning him an arm pat from Allison,

“ **Which means there’s a chance he wasn’t alone when he died”**   
**“There is no mystery here. Nothing to avenge” Diego said as he stood up, “Nothing to solve, nothing like that. Just a sad old man who kicked it in a big empty house. Just like he deserved”**

Oh, he deserved far,  _ far _ worse. 

“ **You should leave” Luther** **stated** **coldly** **, Diego eyed him for a few moments before nodding,**   
**“Whatever you say, brother” He said much more** **coldly** **that current Diego remembered, leaving Luther alone in the big empty bedroom.** _Just like he deserved._

** Now they watched as Vanya walked into the large dim library, she walked slowly around the edge of the room, gazing upon the hundreds of books before she stopped at one. The one. She carefully pulled out the much-hated book. The cover of ‘Extra Ordinary. My life as Number Seven’ was all but shoved in their faces.  ** Any  previous mood in the room was instantly  extinguished , it had been years since any of them had even  _ thought _ of that stupid book, not with more immediate and pressing issues. Even now, despite  rekindling their tattered bonds, the damage caused could not be denied.

**Vanya looked down at the book with a sullen expression, it was hard to tell exactly what she was feeling as she opened the book to where the dedication page should have been. Instead was a blank page that she had signed,**   


** ‘ ** **_ Dad, _ **

**_ I figured, why not? _ **

**_ V’ _ **

No one spoke, despite the countless unasked questions that lingered. Why? Being the foremost. Why write it? Why portray them the way she did? Why was she so angry at them? Just why?   
“You know” Five cut through the tense silence, “That book is the only reason I knew Ben was dead”   
They all stared at him with eyes filled with pain and horror,    
“When I couldn’t find his body, I spent weeks...or was its months? Looking for him. Then I found Vanya’s book and it all made sense” he shrugged taking a sip of his coffee, the way he spoke about it was so...unattached... like he was talking about the weather.

The mood was still tense, but not as overbearing as before. As much pain as the book had caused...if it had helped ease Five’s suffering even just a little...then maybe that was a pain worth bearing.

“ ** Welcome home, Miss Vanya” Pogo greeted from behind her. **

Vanya’s heart clenched terribly as she watched her onscreen counterpart walk up to hug their former caretaker. The way he hugged her tightly, she remembers that it was the first hug she had received from anyone in years...it had been so warm and comforting. She  couldn’t fathom that the Chimp she had loved so much could have hurt her so  immensely . He knew. In this moment hugging her he  _ knew  _ exactly what her father had done to her,  _ knew  _ what the drugs she was on were doing to her. He knew how much pain she was in...and he did nothing. Nothing. And he still had the audacity to hug her and smile at her and-

“VANYA!” her head snapped to where Ben screamed in her ear, her whole body freezing in shock at the sound of her long dead brother's voice, glancing down she realized the colour from her tightly held fists had bled away. She knew her eyes were probably glowing white as well, a quick glance around saw the few scattered items around the room floating. They dropped to the ground after letting out a long emotional breath, the colour fading back into her flesh.   
“I'm sorry!” She gasped as she grappled with her emotions, trying to bring them back into her control, “I just...seeing him it...bought it all back. I'm sorry...I'm sorry”

She didn’t dare look up at her siblings, not wanting to see the horror, or the disgust or fear. Her chest seized at the idea of being locked away again, panic crawling its way up from her stomach to her throat.   
“Hey it’s ok, we understand” Ben was immediately at her knees, taking her hands in his as he gently rubbed them, her grip tightened. It was then she felt Klaus’s hand on her back, gently rubbing circles,   
“Yeah don’t sweat it sis! We all have our traumas! Just makes you a Hargreeves!” She chuckled softly at his words.

She shyly glanced up at the other three, whom Five had been pinning down with a glare the whole time. Allision smiled kindly at her,   
“We can stop watching for now if you want...give yourself some time to prepare” she offered, to which Vanya shook her head.   
Diego was looking at her with concern, he didn’t know what Pogo had done to her...or what their father had done, it wasn’t something they had talked about...besides,   
“I mean...I did try and kill dad a few times this week” he scratched his cheek before shrugging, “I’d be a bit of a hypocrite to judge”

Luther watched his littlest sister, his own chest swelling with emotions. He had watched Vanya kill Pogo...but he had also watched as she stepped, well floated, between them and the entire Commission to protect them...the reawakened guilt of what he has done to her once more began bubbling in his chest as the words failed him. The only thing he could string together was,   
“I’m sorry”

But those words appeared to do the trick. Gathering herself, she took one final breath before nodding, she was ready to continue watching.

“ **So good to see you.” he smiled warmly at her, she smiled back softly.**   
**“Ah yes, your autobiography” he acknowledged the book in her hand,**   
**“Do you know, um...” She paused, hesitating “Did he ever read it?”**

 **Pogo looking away was all the answer they needed,**   
**“Hm.** **.. Not** **that I’m aware of” he shook his head**

** “ ** Bastard” when Diego was surprised that it was him that spoke, “It’s  _ his ‘ _ go fuck yourself’...he could have at least suffered like the rest of us” he admitted.

** Vanya nodded, but  ** ** didn’t ** ** look surprised at the answer.  ** ** Her gaze ** ** turned towards the portrait sitting above the crackling fire, Five portrait. **

**“How long has it been since Five disappeared?” Her voice** **wavered** **just a fraction as they both turned to look at it,**   
**“It’s been sixteen years, four months and fourteen days” Pogo answered, “Your father insisted I keep track”**

** “ ** No doubt to rub it in my face when I returned” Five muttered into his coffee, “More evidence of my obvious ‘failings’

“ ** You  ** ** wanna ** ** know something stupid?” Vanya asked, “I always used to leave the lights on for him. I was scared that he could come back, it would be late and the house would be dark and he  ** ** wouldn’t ** ** be able to find us, so  ** ** he’d ** ** leave again.  ** ** So, ** ** every night I’d make a little snack and make sure all the lights were on” **

Five didn’t consider himself to be an emotional man, surviving both the end of days and the commission made damn sure of that. Despite that fact he couldn’t help the emotions currently choking him, any snarky or sarcastic comment killed by the intension emotions Vanya’s little confession created,   
“Every night?” he attempted a quip,   
“Until the day I left” she quietly responded.   
Then he did something completely out of character, he reached down to squeeze her hand. The moment was of course ruined by Klaus’s loud “Aww!!!”

“ **OH, I** **remember your snacks.** **I’m** **pretty sure** **I stepped in half those peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches” they shared a soft quiet chuckle.** Five’s heart twisted again. She remembered after all those years. **Gazing back at the portrait for a moment,** **Pogo** **let out a sigh,**   
**“Your father always believed that Number Five was still out there somewhere. He never lost hope”**   
**“And look where that got him”**

It came as a relief when the show finally moved on to a less uncomfortable scene,    
**Allison carefully opened the door to their father’s study, slowly making her way to the inner room, looking at the desk where her father often sat. Then suddenly he was,**   
**“** A flashback” someone explained obviously.   
**Reginald** **Hargreeves** **looked very important indeed sitting at his desk as he wrote in his journal, surrounded by his many antiques and collectables, a very impressive portrait of himself hanging behind his desk. He didn’t look up when Grace knocked on his door, nor when she started speaking,**   
**“The children are ready for bed, sir. They wanted to say goodnight” She cheerfully informed.**

 **He** **didn’t** **look up or acknowledge when she opened the sliding wooden door, nor when the seven children stood in said doorway waiting for a glance, a pause in his writing, anything at all. They waited several long seconds before Grace was already herding them away,**   
**“Okay! Time for bed now, kids Come along now” her voice didn’t lose any of his** **cheeriness** **.**   
**The others were all quick to scatter, eager to escape their father's cold indifference. Only Allison** **remained** **standing. Waiting.**

 **“Come along now Allision, your father’s busy” Grace chided**   
**“He’s always busy” young Allison sounded so angry and resentful.**   
**As she walked away Reginald is shown one last time, his pen continuing to flow across the page. Not a single** **acknowledgement** **they even existed.**

Once upon a time Luther would have found some excuse for their fathers' actions, reasoned up some justification, made his actions ok...but after the last year, he has lived? After everything that man had put him through...put them through,   
“Jesus Christ he really was a bastard” He found himself saying, earning a snort from Diego,   
“You’re finally clueing on?” His brother playfully jabbed,   
“Hey now cut him some slack Di” Klaus said, “He _was_ the golden child, these things always take a bit longer for golden children”

“I wasn’t...” Luther started but  paused, because Klaus wasn’t entirely wrong  was, he? The others had clearly worked out their father was a terrible person years ago, and he was only now catching on. And as much as he hated to admit it, he only really started to come to terms with it during his time in the 60’s and even then, it took being rejected once again by their father for it to really sink in.

**The flashback ended as Allision wandered deeper into the room, she adopted a confused look when she suddenly heard the sound of drawers clattering,**   
**“Where’s the cash, dad?” They heard Klaus quietly talking to himself.**   
**Allision walked with confidence towards the desk where Klaus hadn’t yet noticed her, before leaning across the corner of the desk,**   
**“Klaus? What are you doing in here?” she asked, not loudly, but sternly.**

 **Klaus’ head popped up from under the desk,**   
**“Allision?” he asked, surprised at being caught, “Wow, is that you?” he struggled to his feet, swaying as he went.**   
Klaus yelped suddenly as Ben pinched him,   
“Ow?! What the hell?!” he glared,   
“You know what” He stated firmly before focusing back on the screen.   
“ **Hey come here” Klaus raised his arms to hug Allision, and when she didn’t immediately fall into them, he went to her, wrapping his arms around her tightly, “Long time. Too long!” She** **awkwardly** **patted his back,**   
**“Hey, I was hoping to see you actually” He pulled back, hands lingering on her upper arms, “because I wanted to get your autograph. Add it to my collection” He pulled what he proudly thought was his cutest face,**

 **“** Sure, your collection” Diego snorted, “And not to whatever Pawnshop for drug money?” he challenged,   
“I am wounded!” Klaus gasped, “That you would even imply that I’d do such a thing!”   
“You would and you have” Ben pinched him again,   
“Abuse!” Klaus yelped, practically crawling into Vanya’s lap to escape Ben, nearly shoving Five right off the side of the couch, “Sibling abuse!”

 **Allision** **couldn’t** **help but smile at Klaus’s antics, watching as he played with his hands before gesturing at the medical** **bracelet** **on his wrist.**   
**“Just out of rehab?” She asked**   
**“No, no. No, no, no, no” Klaus immediately pulled away, picking and grabbing at the stupid wrist band, trying to pull off the offending plastic, “No. I’m done with all of that” he sighed in defeat as the stupid thing wouldn’t budge.**   
**“I just came down here to prove to myself that the old man was really gone.” Klaus almost sounded genuine upset. Almost. “And he is!** **He’s** **dead!** **Yeah** **!” He clapped in celebration.**

** “ ** Ding Dong the witch is dead” Klaus sang

“ **You know how I know?” Klaus went on, “Because if he were alive, not one of us would be allowed to set foot in this room.” he** **stated** **firmly before plopping himself down in their** **father's** **chair while Allision picked up some paperwork with a confused frown,**   
**“He was always in here plotting his next torment, right?” he chuckled kicking his feet up onto the desk, “Remember how he used to look at us? That** **scowl** **? Thank Christ he’s not our real father so we couldn’t inherit those cold dead eyes!”**   
**He made a funny face at Allision, holding his eyes open dramatically while imitating their father's voice,**   
**“Number Three!” Allision turned away to hide the smile and laugh from her brother.**

 **“** Hah! I knew you thought it was funny” Klaus declared smugly,   
“Yes, absolutely hilarious” Allision rolled her eyes, “You should quit your day job”   
“Oooh ouch, gotta go for the kill don’t you” He laughed.   
“Gods can you actually manage being blood-related to him” Diego shuddered at the thought

“ **Get out of his chair” Luther's voice** **immediately** **killing the fun** **vibe** **,**   
**“oh, wow Luther!” Klaus exclaimed, “Wow you really uh...” he trailed awkwardly as he took in Luther's massive size, “You really filled out over the years huh?” he lifted his own** **scrawny** **arms in a poor imitation.**   
**“Klaus” Luther warned,**   
**“Save the lecture. I was already leaving!” he reassured his brother, sensing it was best to make** **a timely** **escape** **,” You** **guys can talk amongst yourselves”**   
**Luther stopped him from passing by with a large hand holding his upper arm,**   
**“Drop it” was all he said**   
**“Ex-squeeze me?”**   
**“Do it. Now”**

 **They stared each other down for several** **moments** **before Klaus pulled his arm from Luther's grasp,**   
**“All right. All right” he grunted, walking back to the desk, pulling items and no doubt priceless artefacts from his coat, tossing them in the desk and on the ground,**   
**“** **It’s** **just an advance on our inheritance.** **That's** **all it is!” he dropped the** **final** **items in front of Luther, “No need to get your little panties in a bunch”**

Vanya turned to Klaus, who had removed himself from her lap with a confused look in her eyes,   
“How...where were you hiding all of that?” she sounded like a lost child, “You’re wearing skin-tight pants and a see-through crop top... and that jacket can’t have that many pockets can it?”

Klaus wriggled his eyebrows at her,   
“Trade secret” he winked

** They watched as Klaus stormed out of the office, pulling the door closed behind him, as he walked around the corner, checking to make sure they hadn’t followed when he reached behind himself under the coat, after a few moments of struggle he pulled out an ornate box he had hiding. **

**“** Klaus!” Luther scolded, mostly from habit at this point,   
“Where were you even keeping that?!” Vanya demanded to know again,   
“Well I-” Klaus was cut off by Ben slamming a hand over his mouth, he took a moment to savour the feeling of actually being able to shut his brother up for a few precious moments,   
“You don’t want to know” he warned he gravely, looking at her with haunted eyes. He had seen Klaus do many, many things that he refused to subject his favourite sister to.

“ **So, Klaus is still Klaus in case you were wondering,” Luther said as he picked up the objects Klaus had dropped, putting them back in their rightful places,**   
**“You know, after all these years, I find it strangely comforting” Allision admitted,**   
**“Did you see Diego?”**   
**“With his stupid outfit?” Allision raised an eyebrow**   
**“** **Oh,** **I know”**

 **“** Hey fuck you guys” Diego glared, “It’s not stupid!”   
“It’s a little stupid” Ben informed him,

“ **Do you think he wears that thing in the bathroom?” Luther asked,**   
**“Like in the shower?” Allision had to clarify,**   
**“Yeah”**   
**“Yes, absolutely!” Allision did not hesitate to answer enthusiastically. They both shared a giggle,**

 **“** I seriously hate you guys” Diego mumbled,   
“Aw he loves you too Diego” Allision blew a kiss at him, he promptly flipped her the bird in response.

“ **I, uh... I wasn’t sure you’d come” Luther awkwardly said, Allision looked down at the desk for a moment,**   
**“Me neither” she admitted,**   
**“You look great” He looked at her kindly, it took her a few moments to reply with a soft.**   
**“Thanks”**   
**“Where’s** **Patrick** **and Claire?”** Everyone winces at the landmine he had unintentionally walked into.

“ **Patrick filed for divorce eight months ago” her face twisted in pain and frustration as she said** **coldly** **, Luther just stared quietly at her, unsure of what to say or how to respond,**   
**“** **Of course,** **you don’t know, you’ve been gone” Allision pointed up vaguely, the coldness leaving her tone,**   
**“What about Claire?”**

Luther groaned at his onscreen counterpart, had he really been that dense? His words were as graceful and delicate as his gorilla body.   
“Jesus Luther, learn to read the room” Diego snarked

Allision’s heart clenched at the mention of her daughter, it had been years now since she had seen her. She had accepted a while ago that she was never going to see her daughter again, when she decided to settle down and make a new life in Dallas, she knew it would mean letting go of her past life...including Claire.   
But now? The strange woman, Fortuna, she said that she was giving them a chance at their life back, these ‘movies’ their life...they were an opportunity to not only get back but to _fix_ everything...she could fix Patrick and Claire; she could have them back! For the first time in a long time Allision felt hope bloom in her chest

 **Allision’s head dropped further as it took her a few moments to collect herself enough to answer.**   
**“He got custody” she swallowed thickly,**   
**“Shit” Luther breathed as the painful silence fell between them,** **after** **a few moments he spoke again.** God Luther wanted to punch himself, had he really been this annoying?!   
“ **Well... you could always do your, uh, you know...rumor thing” he offered, quite** **awkwardly**   
**“Yeah, I don’t do that anymore” she crossed her arms,**   
**“What happened?” Luther frowned,**   
**“Same thing that always happens.” She shrugged, “I made a wish, and it came true, and I couldn’t take it back”**   
**Luther nodded in understanding and sympathy.**

** The next scene jumped forward to all of them sitting together in the library, sort of. Each of the siblings sat in their own couch or chair, quite a distance from each other. **

Very different to how they sat, all squished together now,   
“Jesus you all look so stupid” Five’s sharp voice made them all jump; he had been so quiet up until now. “Klaus isn’t even in the same room! Would it really kill you to sit on the same couch?”   
They glanced away in embarrassment, looking at it now they really did look ridiculous. The space between them, both physical and emotional was...painful to watch, to say the least.

“ **I guess we should get this started” Luther stated as he stood up, taking the lead, “So, I figured we could have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words, just at dad’s** **favourite** **spot.”**   
**“Dad had a** **favourite** **spot?” Allision asked,**   
**“You know, under the oak tree.” Luther quickly explained** **,” We** **used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever did that?”**

 **“** I’m sorry” Luther blurted, “I... I never realized that dad never...was like that with you. I just, I guess assumed...”   
Allision placed a comforting hand on his forearm,   
“It’s fine Luther, you can’t be blamed for how dad was” she reassured him softly,   
“But I can be blamed for how I was” he frowned,   
“Eh, just because you were the golden child didn’t mean he didn’t mess you us as well” Diego said, “At least you managed to eventually pull your head out of dads ass”   
Luther wanted to protest the wording, but couldn’t bring himself to argue against the sentiment.

 **Klaus made his way back into the room with the others, a glass of amber alcohol in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other,**   
**“Will there be refreshments?” He asked completely cutting Luther off, “Tea? Scones? Cumber sandwiches are always a winner” he informed them,**   
**“What?” Luther frowned, “No. And put that out. Dad didn’t allow smoking in here!”**   
**“Is that my skirt?!” Allision suddenly demanded.**

 **“** Wait...” Allision turned to Klaus with a frown, “When the hell did you have time to change? We hadn’t even been there that long!”   
“And where is the box you just stole?” Diego rose an eyebrow at him,   
Klaus offered them a shrug,   
“Who knows! It'll forever be a mystery” in all truth he didn’t really remember. It had been so long ago at this point, and memories never seemed to quite stick while under the influence. Most of what was happening on screen only seemed vaguely familiar to Klaus.

“ ** What?” He looked down at what he was wearing, “Oh,  ** ** yeah ** ** , this. I found it in your room.  ** ** It’s ** ** a little  ** ** dated, I know, but  ** ** it’s ** ** very  ** ** breathy ** ** on the bits” **

**“** I thought it looked very nice on you” Vanya offered him with a quiet smile,   
“Danke kleineschwester” He threw an arm around her shoulder, “And this is whyyou're my favourite”   
He yelped when Ben pinched him again,   
“I spend how many years stuck with your disaster self and I don’t get the reward of being the favourite? He poked Klaus hard in his skinny ribs   
“Not when you abuse me like this!” He cried,   
Vanya smiled fondly and giggled at their antics. she had missed this so much.

“ **Listen up” Luther snapped, “Still some important things that we need to discuss, alright?”**   
**“Like what?” Diego asked**   
**“Like the way he died” Luther turned to face him,**   
**“And here we go” Diego sighed, clearly preparing for the oncoming shit storm.**

 **“I don’t understand.” Vanya spoke up for the first time, her voice quiet and unsure, “I thought they said it was a heart attack”**   
**“Yeah, according to the corner” Luther brushed her words off,**   
**“Well wouldn’t they know?” She pointed out logically,**   
**“Theoretically” He once ore brushed logic aside.**   
**“Theoretically?” Allision sounded sceptical**

 **“** Imagine how much time you all could have saved if you actually listened to Vanya at this point” Ben piped up,” You wasted so much time chasing down dad’s ‘murderer’ that could have been spent preventing the end of the world?”   
“You can’t blame us for not knowing that Pogo wasn’t telling us everything” Luther weakly defended, he knew now they had wasted so much precious time over nothing, but they had been misled and strung along...surely that must have counted for something,   
“I can and I will blame you for being a stubborn ass” Ben folded his arms stubbornly.

“ **I’m just saying, at the very least, something happened.” Luther went on, “The last time I talked to dad, he** **sounded** **strange.”**   
**“Oh, Quelle surprise” Klaus interrupted while gargling his drink,**   
**“Strange how?” Allision pressed,**   
**“He sounded on edge. Told me I should be careful who to trust” Luther was starting to get frustrated.**   
He wasn’t entirely wrong, looking back, he was right, Luther should have been more careful with his trust was just wrong in where to put that trust.

“ **Luther, he was a paranoid, bitter old man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles” Diego tried to reason,**   
**“No. He must have known something was going to happen” Luther tried again.**

 **“** You know Luther wasn’t entirely wrong” Klaus looked almost pained at the words, “dear old dad _did_ somehow know the apocalypse was going to happen and I’d be pretty on edge e if I was about to pop myself off...”   
“He might have gotten some of the details right but he still got the most important pieces wrong” Five pointed out, “And went off in the completely wrong direction,   
“That's a bit rich coming from you Mr eyeball man” Klaus couldn’t help but add with a grin

“It wouldn’t have mattered in the end if you were right ,” Vanya’s quiet voice killed any further arguments,” I still ended up..." she trailed off

“ **Look, I know you don’t like to do it” Luther turned his attention to Klaus, “but I need you to talk to dad”**   
**Klaus startled at being addressed so suddenly, taking a moment to process what was being asked of him before scoffing in disbelief,**   
**“I can’t just call dad in the afterlife and be like ‘Dad could you just stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call’”**   
**“Since when? That’s your thing?” Luther demanded,**

 **“** I’m sorry...I asked that of you” Luther winced, he knew he’d be apologizing for a lot during these movies, “In Dallas...even as a team he was...awful to deal with. To ask you to deal with him alone?... that was horrible”   
Klaus’s mouth opened to reply with something snarky or sarcastic, to wave it all off with his unique brand of humour, pushing down any and all potential for real emotions. The words never came. So instead he swallowed and nodded his head in acknowledgement.

“ **I’m not in the right...frame of mind” Klaus tried to explain,**   
**“You’re high?” Allision loudly demanded,**   
**“Yeah!** **Yeah** **!” Klaus laughed, “I mean, how can you not, listening to this** **nonsense** **”**

 **“** I’m not even there and just watching this makes me want to drink” Five muttered as he glared down at the coffee mug, it once more filling up with coffee,   
“How many of those have you had?” Diego frowned in concern reaching for the mug,   
“Touch it and I will bite your hands off at the wrist” Five snarled   
“Not enough apparently”

“ **Well sober up, this is important!” Luther ordered earning an annoyed sigh from Klaus as he sank back into his seat next to Vanya,**   
**“Then there’s the issue of the missing** **monocle** **” He pushed on, Onscreen Diego looked as fed up as they felt,**   
**“Who gives a shit about a stupid** **monocle** **?” he said sounding as fed up as they felt,**   
**“Exactly.** **It’s** **worthless. So, whoever took it.** **I think it** **was personal. Someone close to him. Someone with a grudge” Luther continued,**   
**“Where are you going with this?” Klaus asked getting very frustrated,**   
**“Oh, isn’t** **it** **obvious Klaus?” Diego snapped, “He thinks one of us killed dad.”**   
  
**The silence and quiet grunt that followed as all the confirmation they needed,**   
**“You do!” Klaus gasped in offence,**   
**“How could you think that?” Vanya sounded so hurt at the accusation.**

 **“** Again, to be fair” Luther quickly jumped in, turning to Diego, “You were very quick to deciding to kill dad in the sixties”   
“That’s different and you know it!” Diego glared at him

“ **Great job Luther. Way to lead” Diego snarked at him**   
**“That’s not what I’m saying” Luther tried to explain,”**   
**“you’re crazy man! You’re crazy!” Klaus declared as he pushed himself off the couch, repeating himself as he went,**   
**“I’ve not finished!” Luther tried and failed to maintain control,**   
**“Sorry I’m** **gonna** **go murder mom. Be right back” Klaus called back over his shoulder,**   
**“That’s not what I was saying...I didn’t...” he watched as Vanya got up without another word, following Klaus’s exit quickly followed by Allision.**

 **“Allision, jeez...” She** **didn’t** **acknowledge him as she to left, leaving Luther standing in the library alone, with only Five’s portrait remaining.**   
**“That went well” he sighed**

 **“** I didn’t handle that well” Luther admitted,   
“Well no one got stabbed...or shot...or kidnapped...or disappeared...” Klaus went on, “So could have been worse.”

** A title card appeared on screen as a reporter counted down. **

** 17 YEARS AGO. **

** Another flashback. **

They watched as their  thirteen-year-old selves went about fighting the criminals, each using their powers to quickly dispatch of them. Not that long ago they looked back at their past actions with pride, but now? They watched only in a mix of horror and disgust.

“You were so small” Vanya frowned, “How old were you guys?”   
“The title card said seventeen years ago...which I’m guessing is seventeen years from 2019” Allision quickly did the math in her head, “We must have been about thirteen...”   
“Yeah I think this was our debut” Diego added on, wincing as he had to admit that even he sounded cheesy as hell as a kid.   
“I couldn’t even imagine even _thinking_ about making Claire do something so...so dangerous!” Allision continued, “We could have died! So many times!”   
“One of us did die” Ben reminds them all quietly.

Their attention was bought back on screen by the younger Ben,   
“ **Do we really have to do this?” He asked quietly,**   
**“Come on Ben. There’s more guys in the fault” Luther all but ordered him.**   
**Ben sighed in defeat, reluctantly walking into the frosted glass of the vault,**   
**“I didn’t sign up for this” he muttered in defeat.**

They almost  couldn’t watch it, as the shadow of the Horror was shown thrashing  its tentacles, slamming bodies against the glass, spraying them with blood. It had been so long since they heard the  beast's growls and screeches it caught them fully off guard. Vanya felt her heart break as she watched as little Ben opened the vault door, walking out drenched in blood, shaking violently.

“ ** Can we go home now?” he asked in a  ** ** quiet ** ** broken voice. **

No one spoke...what could they possibly say? They watched the rest of the flashback quickly, not paying much attention to the reporters or the ‘victory march’ it wasn’t until they were shown their father and Vanya standing on the roof of a building some distance away.

“ **Why can’t I go play with the others?”** Vanya winced at her younger self’s insensitive choice of words,   
“I know” she cut Diego off before he could comment, “I know now that’s not what you were doing...I know...”   
“ **We’ve been through this before, Number Seven” Reginald immediately brushed her words off, “I’m afraid there’s just nothing special about you” He said it so plainly as if he were stating the sky was blue.**   
**“Oh...” was Vanya’s only response.**

They collectively let out a startled yelp when Five’s coffee mug crashed against the wall where Reginald's face had just been.   
“Five!” he wasn’t sure who had said it, he didn’t care because he was seething. He turned to Vanya who was equally startled,   
“Fuck dad” he spat,” And fuck everything he said. You **are** special”    
“Five” she sounded concerned, “It’s alright...really...it was so long ago it doesn’t matter”   
“But it wasn’t so long ago” Allision chimed in with a frown,    
“Guy’s really it’s fine...it really doesn’t matter” Vanya once more tried, “Come on we’re missing the-”   
“It does matter” Five set his jaw prepared to argue further,    
“We can talk about it later” She cut in, he pondered it for a few moments before settling back down,   
“You had better believe it” he muttered.

Diego had kept his eyes on the screen, watching as their father announced The Umbrella Academy to the world, but his thoughts were elsewhere. They had all been treated terribly by their father, and had all been subjected to their father’s harsh words...he had always assumed that Vanya had at least escaped that. Afterall she never had personal training or any one-on-one with their father, it made sense then that she had escaped the worst of it....

But watching as their father so easily and casually threw such cruel words into her face...how many times had she heard those words? How many other cruel statements were hurtled her way when they  weren’t looking. He frowned, thinking back to her book...he had never actually read it all the way through. Sure, he had read his chapter in length and skimmed through the others chapters, by the time he got  to chapter Seven he refused to give her the grace or dignity of even  skim reading it.

Looking at his tiny thirteen-year-old sister he wondered if maybe that had been a mistake.

**They were bought back to the present with a shot of** **Reginald's** **urn sitting proudly next to a small picture of himself.**   
**“Listen up, old man” Klaus addressed the urn directly, “You know, if I was murdered and one of my sons—adopted sons! --happened to be able to commune with the dead, I might think about, I don’t know, I don’t know Manifesting!” He ended by raising his voice.**

 **“** You actually did try summoning him?” Luther found himself asking, Klaus shrugged in response,   
“Thought I’d give it a shot, no big deal, proud bastard never showed up” he sniffed.

“ **Do the whole big angry ghost lecture!” he placed his hand on his hips as he adopted a mocking tone, “Tell everyone who done it, and find eternal peace! Eternal peace is probably overrated!”**   
**The urn of course did nothing. Sir Reginald** **Hargreeves** **did not manifest before Klaus, nor did his urn or photo move or shake or show any sign that anyone was listening. It just sat there. Mocking Klaus.**

 **He let out an** **aggravated** **sigh as he turned in a circle, then two circles before stopping to stare at the urn. It did nothing. He tried staring at it intensely from a distance. Then he tried leaning against the bar it was sat upon,**   
**“Come on now Reggie” he tried coaxing, “Any time now.”**   
**Still nothing.**

** “Just need to sober up!” He  ** ** announced ** ** to the empty room, slapping himself repeatedly in the face, “Clear thoughts!” **

**“** This is...kinda depressing to watch” Allison said,   
“Yeah...like a three-legged puppy trying to play catch” Diego added on,   
“Hey!” Klaus pouted, “I was trying my best! Not my fault he was a stubborn bastard!”   
“But it was your fault you were off your face” Ben pointed out, Klaus gasped, hand on his chest,   
“I can’t believe my own family would attack me so viciously” he whined.

 **Klaus resorted to** **aggressive** **jazz hands, shaking with frustration when the urn continued to do nothing,**   
**“Come on! Come on, chop-chop!” He shouted, finally losing his patience he began to rant at the silent urn, “You were always a stubborn bastard!”**   
**He must have ranted for some time, when he was done, he was exhausted and panting,**   
**“I don’t know about you but I need a drink” As he reached** **haphazardly** **across the bar his arm knocked into the urn, knocking it and the ashes it contained inside all across the bar.**

The other six Hargreeves looked as shocked and horrified as the Klaus onscreen,   
“Klaus!” Luther and Allision turned to him in absolute horror, while Diego burst into hysterical laughter of absolute joy, Ben, of course, joined him. Vanya was trying very hard to look serious and scolding while trying to keep the smile off her face while Five looked between the screen and his brother, trying to confirm if yes Klaus had just spilt their father all over the counter.   
“I put him back!” Klaus defended, “...most of him anyway”   
“Klaus!”   
“It was an accident!”   
“Oh my god, that means mom must have swept up the extra and tossed it in the trash!” Diego howled with laugher, “Just like he deserves!”

Luther knew that he really  couldn’t argue with that but still! It felt so  inherently taboo to mess around with someone’s ashes like that...even if it was someone as evil as their father.

**They watched as their onscreen counterparts made their way to their own spaces, Luther walked down a long hall towards his old bedroom, passing by the old ‘kick, grab,** **gouge** **’ posters hanging on the wall. He looked even larger in his tiny room.**   
**Allision sat at her old vanity, it looked untouched from the day she had left, even an old** **magazine** **she** **had featured in as a teenager still sat where she had left it. She reached out, picking up a heart-shaped necklace, closer inspection showed it to have ‘A+L’ carved into it.**

Allision swatted at Diego when he laughed at Klaus for making “oooo” kissy noises at them,   
“Ow! Hey!” He rubbed his arm,” Why hit me?!”   
“You’re closer” she informed him.

 **Klaus had made his way down to the kitchen, placing his** **empty glass** **down on the table then their** **father's** **urn. He pulled out a small baggy of pills, pouring a few into his hand,**   
**“Oh. Three? Okay!” He threw his head back as he swallowed them all dry.**

He could _feel_ the looks of concern from his siblings, it was one thing to know about his drug habits, it was another thing entirely to have to watch it.   
“That’s a lot of pills” Vanya mumbled in concern,   
“Don’t fret your pretty little head Van-Van" He patted her on the head for emphasis,” I didn’t overdose!”   
“This time” Ben added.   
Klaus turned to hiss at him while Ben watched smugly as their siblings looks of concerns only deepened. Good, maybe between the six of them they’d be able to keep Klaus on the mostly straight and narrow.

** Diego sighed as he fell back on the couch, cracking his knuckles before pulling out one of his smaller knives to play with.  ** ** Finally, ** ** there was Vanya, sitting alone in the middle of the main staircase looking absolutely lost. **

** They  ** ** watched ** ** as Luther browsed through his records, carefully pulling one out, loaded it into the record player, he gently placed the needle letting it play. As the intro to “I think we’re alone now began to play” he started to sway to the music. **

  
**“** Oh my god” Luther hid his face in his hands, the memory coming back full force,   
“Wait are you guys?” Five watched with growing realization,   
“Ha! I knew you were all dancing too!” Klaus exclaimed, “Oh my god you all look ridiculous!”   
“Us?” Allision snorted, “Look at you! You’re practically slow dancing with dad’s urn!”   
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Diego is the best dancer out of all of this!” Luther laughed,   
“You’re all embarrassing idiots and I can’t believe I have to be related to you” Five announced,   
“Naaw, you’re just jealous you missed out on the dance party old man” Klaus teased.

 **Their impromptu dancing was cut off by the sudden onset of lightning. Violent blue lightning. They all raced outside to investigate,** **what the hell** **it was. They were met by a large blue** **vortex** **,**   
**“What is it?” Vanya called,**   
**“Don’t get too close!” Allision warned**   
**“Yeah no shit” Diego** **sarcastically** **shot back,**   
**“Looks like some sort of temporal anomaly,” Luther told them, “Either that or a miniature black hole. One of the two” he continued.**   
**“Pretty** **big difference** **there Paul Bunyan” Diego sounded annoyed.**

 **“Out of the way!” Klaus shouted as he ran between them, fire extinguisher in hand,**   
**“What are you?” Luther began to question,**   
**Klaus** **didn’t** **verbalize his** **response** **, glancing at the instructions on the side for a few moments before tossing the entire extinguisher in.**

Five snorted suddenly,   
“Well that explains that” he said simply, “Of course it was Klaus who threw a fire extinguisher into an unknown portal.” He turned in his seat to glare at his brother, “Thanks by the way, you nearly knocked my head clean off”   
“Bitte” Klaus grinned back at him.

“ **What is that** **gonna** **do?” Allision shouted at her brother,**   
**“I don’t know” Klaus threw his hands up, “Do you have a better idea?”**   
**When the portal became more aggressive, shooting off more energy and lightning Klaus ran back to safety behind his brothers,**   
**“Everyone** **get** **behind me!” Luther ordered,**   
**“Yeah, everyone** **get** **behind us!” Diego pushed to stand beside Luther,** earning an eye-roll from everyone else   
“ **I vote for** **running!** **c’mon!” Klaus shouted**

** Then an old man was shown on the  ** ** other side ** ** of the portal, as he moved through the portal his body morphing and de-aging to show the young  ** ** Five, ** ** they all knew. Once he was completely through the portal closed behind him, dropping onto the ground, leaving the once old man as the thirteen-year-old he was now, in a suit many sizes too big. **

** “Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is it just me?” Klaus asked **

**“** Of course, we all saw him” Diego frowned, now realizing it was a stupid question, “he did land right in front of us”   
“Just wanted to make sure” Klaus shrugged,   
“He was checking to make sure Five wasn’t a ghost” Ben explained, ignoring Klaus’s glare and hiss to shut up, “You guys can’t see ghosts. Klaus can”   
Diego was stunned by the answer...but of course that made sense, Five had been gone so long they all assumed him dead...of course wanted to make sure,   
“Shit...sorry” he mumbled

** NUMBER 5 **

** “NUMBER FIVE” **

“Have you guys ever found it weird that we all have names but Five doesn’t?” Vanya voiced suddenly,   
The way her siblings blinked at her indicated that no, they hadn’t. Or at the very least they hadn’t thought about it,   
“I didn’t want one” Five offered as an explanation, “Mom was given permission to name Seven of us, and I saw no need for one so I passed.”   
He avoided Vanya’s teary eyes; her name was as much a gift from him as it'd been their moms.

“ ** Shit” was the first words the  ** ** Hargreeves ** ** heard their brother speak in over seventeen years. **

**They found themselves back in the** **kitchen** **, watching as Five went about assembling himself a fluffernutter sandwich,**   
**“What’s the date? The exact date.” he asked,**   
**“The 24th” Vanya answered him,**   
**“Of what?” he pressed**   
**“March”**   
**“Good” He nodded** **somewhat pleased** **.**

 **“So, are we going to talk about what just happened?” Luther asked,**   
**Five ignored him, instead focusing on the** **very important** **task of sandwich making. His siblings continued to watch him quietly in disbelief. Annoyed at being ignored Luther stood to his full height,**   
**“It’s been seventeen years” He started**   
**“It’s been a lot longer than that" Five scoffed as he stood in front of the towering Luther before space jumping behind him to grab, a jar of peanut butter off the shelf**   
**“I hadn’t missed that” Luther** **muttered**

The shit-eating grin on the current Five’s face revealed that he knew exactly how much his jumping pissed his siblings off.

“ **Where’d you go?” Diego asked**   
**“The future.** **It’s** **shit by the way” He responded nonchalantly,**   
**“Called it!” Klaus cut in.**

Diego turned to his physically younger,   
“Five I mean this with love. ‘it's shit by the way’ is more than little bit of an under exaggeration when you are talking about the end of the fucking world!”   
“Yeah? You’re telling me that in that moment” he pointed at the screen,” That Diego from March 2019 would have believed me if I told him that the world was ending in eight days” he turned his gaze to his other siblings,” Would any of you believed me?”

They looked like they wanted to protest, only Vanya shook her head,   
“No,we wouldn’t have” she admitted softly,   
“Of course, we would have!” Allision tried defending them   
“I didn’t” Vanya confessed quietly, turning to face Five now, the sad apology on her face, “That night when you came to me...I didn’t...couldn’t believe you...and I should have” she trailed off miserably.

Five gave a huff through his nose, before relenting just a little,   
“I may not have...explained it very well” he reluctantly admitted.

“Translation he didn’t explain it at all" Ben whispered into Klaus's ear who snorted in response.

“ **I should have listened to the old man” Five freely admitted, “You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice” He glanced up at them, eyes landing on Klaus, “Nice dress”**   
**“Oh well Danke” Klaus looked down adjusting his skirt,**   
**“Wait, how did you get back?” Vanya finally asked,**   
**“In the end, I had to project my** **consciousness** **forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time.”**   
**“That makes no sense” Diego said.**

 **“** It still makes no sense” Diego informed his brother,   
“Then you’re still not smart enough to understand” Five shot back.

“ **Well it would if you were smarter” Five stated simply, Luther stopped Diego from jumping at their now smaller brother,**   
**“How long were you there?” he asked instead,**   
**“Forty-five years. Give or take” He offered with a tilt of his head,**   
**“So, what are you saying? That** **you're** **58?” Luther tried to clarify**

** “No, my consciousness is 58.  ** ** Apparently, ** ** my ** ** body is now thirteen again” he sounded oh so pleased about that, **

** “ ** So, you’re 58 but you’re just being smug about it” Ben teased,  Five shot him a glare in response.

“ **Wait, how does that even work?” Vanya asked again, trying to understand what she was being told,**   
**“Delores kept saying the equations were off. Eh” he shrugged, “Bet she’s laughing now”**   
**“Delores?” Five promptly ignored Vanya’s question, instead picking up the newspaper sitting on the table, the news of** **their** **father's** **death having made the front page,**   
**“Guess I missed the funeral” he didn’t sound bothered at all by the idea of it,**   
**“How’d you know about that?” Luther asked confused,**   
**“What part of the future do you not understand?” Five gave him a patronizing stare**

 **“** It was a pretty stupid question” Diego pointed out,   
“I was a little overwhelmed,” Luther defended, “We all were...and he didn’t need to be such an asshole about it”   
“I wouldn’t need to be an asshole if you didn’t ask stupid questions” Five shrugged.

“ **Heart Failure huh?” Five asked,**   
**“Yeah” Diego said at the same time Luther said “No”**   
**“Hm” Five hummed as the tension once more began to rise, “Nice to see nothing’s change” he clicked his tongue**   
**“That’s it?” Allision demanded, finally finding her voice, “That’s all you have to say?”**   
**“What else is there to say? The circle of life” Five shrugged it off as he took his sandwich and left them all sitting shellshocked.**

 **“** Good riddance. Out with the trash” Diego started listing off,   
“Hasta la vista. Free at last” Klaus added on,   
“See you in hell.” Diego continued,   
“Ok guys we get it” Allision cut them off, before turning to glare at Five, “A simple ‘I’ve missed you guys’ or 'it's good to see you' would have been nice,   
“Or maybe ‘Hey by the way I’m on the run from an organizational of time travelling assassins because I’m trying to stop the apocalypse’” Ben offered.   
“My apologies” Five snapped, “I had a lot on my mind at the time, you know _running from an organization of time travelling assassins and trying to stop the apocalypse_ it must have slipped my mind to partake in small talk”

“ ** Well...” Luther finally said after a few moments, “That was interesting” **

**Five had made his way to his old room, opening his closet to find something that would fit his now much smaller body. The closet was full of identical uniforms, and nothing but uniforms,**   
**“Ah shit” he swore realizing he had no choice but to wear them.**

 **The scene jumped again, back to the library with Five staring up at his own** **portrait** **, Vanya quietly walked up behind him,**   
**“Nice to know dad didn’t forget me” he commented**

 **“** Sure that’s why he had it made” Diego snorted, “To remember you by, and totally not as a warning to the rest of us”   
Luther, in particular, shifted uncomfortably because for the longest time he believed that was exactly why their father had the painting commissioned...although it did always sit as a reminder in the back of mind that what happened to Five was the natural consequence of not listening to their father. He frowned at the thought...perhaps their father’s methods had buried themselves deeper than he realized.

“ **Read your book by the way” Five turned to face his sister, “Found it in a library that was still standing” the implication of his words hung heavy in the air,**   
**“I thought it was** **pretty good** **, all things considered” he went on.**

 **“** Wait you found it good?” Diego immediately snapped, internally wincing at how quick he was to snap at the mention of the book, trying to bury the lingering feelings of anger and betrayal,   
“It was very well written.” Five stated plainly, earning a snort from the others, “Did any of you actually read the whole thing? Or did you just read whatever was being said about yourself?”

Allision opened her mouth to argue that yes! She had, in fact, read the entire book from cover to cover, but paused when she realized that...no... she had not. She had read the chapter on herself, of course, wanting to know exactly what was said about herself...but the other chapters? She had skimmed past.   
She looked around, watching as the others had very similar expressions of realization. And Vanya? Vanya was doing her best to become one with the couch, wilting at the attention the book bought.   
“Were you even angry about what she wrote” Five continued to press, even when Vanya placed a hand on his arm, urging him to stop, “Or were you angry about the fact she wrote it? "

No one really knew how to answer that.

“ **Yeah, definitely ballsy” he continued, looking almost proud, “giving up the family secrets. Sure, that went over well”**   
**“They hate me” She stated quietly but firmly, a simple and** **indisputable** **fact of life** **.**

Any lingering embers were snuffed out with that one phrase,   
“I didn’t!” Diego blurted, before flushing red, “I never...never h-hated you” his face screwed up in frustration at the stutter, “Y-Y-Yeah I was pr-pretty p-pissed but...I d-didn't _hate_ **you**...”   
“Vanya!” Allision sounded so broken, “You didn’t...yeah we were angry and hurt but...you couldn’t have actually believed we hated you!”   
Vanya shrugged in response, picking at her nails,   
“I mean I hate at you did” Ben started,” but...I... we never hated you”   
“Did you ever tell her that?” Five snapped at them,” Or did you just scream her, declare her dead and cut off all contact?”

“Five It's fine” Vanya finally spoke up, “They had every right to be angry...I should have never written that stupid book...I deserved what I got”   
He opened his mouth to protest, surprisingly it was Luther that cut in,   
“After everything that’s happened in the last...” he paused with a frown, “Year? Years? since dad’s funeral...I don’t think any of us really have the right to hang onto any resentment over a book” he had his sibling's full attention now, he cleared his throat,   
“Yes, the book was a mistake, and it caused a lot of hurt...but it’s not fair to hold that against Vanya when we have done things ourselves to hurt her...and each other.” He swallowed, “I know I, in particular, have no right to criticize with t I’ve done...to Vanya and this family...so I think we all need to just...let it go” he finished confidently.

He began to regret speaking up as the silence continued, fearing he said something wrong...again,   
“That...was...actually not completely shit” Diego stared in amazement, “You _can_ give good speeches after all”   
“Luther’s right” Allision ignored Diego, turning to smile at Vanya, who offered her a small but hopeful smile in return, “it’s time we let go of the past”   
“Excellent!” Klaus immediately announced, “This means none of you can be mad at anything I do during these viewings!”

“ **Oh, there are worse things that can happen” Five assured her,**   
**“Like what happened to Ben?” Vanya said softly. It took Five a moment to consider his next question,**   
**“Was it bad?”**   
**Vanya could only nod her head in response,** **Five** **gave a single nod of his own, before looking away, no doubt to process.**

 **“** I’m sorry I couldn’t save you” Five blurted to Ben who startled at his sudden confession, “that I couldn’t...get back that far. I wish I could have done more...I was going to try after stopping armageddon but...well” he trailed off, it had been one hell of a fortnight to say the least,   
“Hey man it’s ok” Ben reassured him, reaching over Klaus and Vanya to pat his knee, “I understand. and I’m here now! That’s more than I could have ever asked for”

That was still a question that needed answering, how was Ben here? And more importantly how was he alive? If he had been pulled from their own timeline then  shouldn’t he still be a ghost? Five took a mental note, adding it to the list of questions he was going to demand from Fortuna.

**They all gathered in front of Ben’s statue, all except Diego huddled under umbrella’s as the rain poured down upon them.**   
**“Did something happen?” Their mother asked confused but cheerful as always,**   
**“Dad died. Remember?” Allison frowned in concern,**   
**“Oh. Yes of course” She said suddenly adopted a** **sullen** **look,**   
**“Is mom ok?” Allision asked again in concern.**   
**“Yeah,** **yeah** **, she’s fine” Diego was quick to defend** **,” She** **just needs to rest. You know, recharge” he stated firmly, looking at their mother fondly.**

Diego snapped his head towards Luther whose cough sounded suspiciously like “Momma’s boy ”, Luther just looked back with an innocent smile, to which Diego responded to by flipping him the bird.

**Pogo slowly made his way to the circle of** **Hargreeves** **, nodding at Luther,**   
**“Whenever you’re ready, dear boy”**

 **They watched in anticipation as Luther carefully took the top off of the urn, then with much focus, turned the urn upside down pouring the ashes onto the ground, where they landed in a sad, pathetic smile. Their** **on-screen** **counterparts all winced in** **awkwardness** **,**   
**“Probably would have been better with some wind” Luther broke the awkward silence.**

Surprisingly enough it was Vanya who snorted and laughed first,   
“I’m sorry!” she giggled as her siblings stared at her, “I shouldn’t laugh but it just” she made a poof gesture with her hand,   
“plop” Klaus provided before snorting and giggling himself, “Like the world's worst sandbox”   
“Guys!” Allision gasped, fighting a grin of her own,    
“Probably a good thing there was no wind” Luther quietly admitted, “probably wouldn’t have gone down well to have a face full of dad ash” that set the remaining Hargreeves off. The joyful mood was quickly squashed by the next scene.

“ **Does anyone wish to speak?” Pogo asked glancing at each of them in turn, no one moving to say a word, “Very well” he nodded in acceptance,**   
**“In all regards, Sir Reginald** **Hargreeves** **made me what I am today. For that alone, I shall be forever in his debt. He was my master, and my friend and I shall miss him very much.” They all stood silent as Pogo spoke, “He leaves behind a complicated legacy--”**

 **“** That’s an understatement” Ben muttered mostly to himself,   
“He left behind one hell of a mess” Five grunted

“ **He was a monster” Diego cut him off,**   
**“** That as well”   
“ **He was a bad person and a worse father. The worlds better off without him” Diego continued,**   
**“Diego” Allision snapped in warning,**   
**“My name is Number Two. You know why? Because our father couldn’t be bothered to give us actual names. He had mom do it”**

**“** He wasn’t even going to give Vanya a name” Diego added on,” She only got one because Five copped out”   
“No one is arguing with you that he was an evil man” Allision soothed,   
“Anymore” Luther was quick to add on, eyeing the screen a moment before wincing, “Back then?”

“ **Would anyone like something to eat?” Grace spoke up when Diego mentioned her,**   
**“No it’s okay mom” Vanya reassured her,**   
**“Oh. Okay" Grace continued to smile.**

 **“Look you** **wanna** **pay your respects?” Diego started again, “Go ahead. But at least be honest about the kind of man he was.”**   
**“You should stop talking now” Luther warned him, Diego looked at him for a moment,**   
**“You know, you of all people should be on my side here, Number One.” he started, turning to face Luther,**   
**“I am warning you”**   
**“After everything, he did to you? He had to ship you a million miles away!”**   
**“Diego, stop talking” Luther warned more firmly this time,**   
**“That's how much he** **couldn't** **stand the sight of you!” Diego shouted**

Diego winced at his words,   
“Ok...yeah bit of a low blow there” he admitted, especially knowing know exactly what their father had done to Luther,   
“I needed to hear it” Luther shrugged, before frowning, “...Not that I was going to listen...I may have been more stuck under his thumb than...well than I realized”

 **On-screen, their past selves dealt with the argument far more** **aggressively** **, Luther shoved Diego back before swinging a fist at him, which of course meant Diego had to respond in kind.**   
**“Boys stop this at once!” Pogo** **sternly** **ordered as the continued to fight.**

 **Klaus put a protective arm up in front of Five as he backed them up away from the fight, it took moment for Five to realize and push the arm down and away like an annoyed teenager he certainly was not.**   
**“** I am a 58-year-old seasoned assassin” Five huffed, “I don’t need protecting”

 **The fight was quickly** **escalating** **as punches started landing,**   
**“Stop it!” Vanya shouted at them,**   
**“Hit him! Hit him!” Klaus encouraged unhelpfully.**   
**They watched as Pogo let out an aggerated huffed, turning away in disappointment, leaving them to their squabbling. It took several more moments before Five decided he had had enough of watching his brothers beat the shit out of each other,**   
**“We don’t have enough time for this” he** **muttered** **.**

 **Luther and Diego were getting dangerously close to Ben’s statue, until finally Deigo was standing in front of it. Luther threw one final punch, instead of hitting Diego, he hit Ben’s statue, which flew from its pedestal,** **hitting** **the ground which a crunch as the head broke clean off, rolling away,**   
**“Ooooh” Klaus winced in pity,**   
**“And there goes Ben’s statue” Allision sighed as she decided she too was done, turning on her heel walking away from the mess.**

Luther and Diego opened their mouths to apologize to Ben, but were cut off by his giggling,   
“Timber” He giggled in delight, Klaus snorting,   
“You’re not upset?” Luther asked confused,   
“Oh god no, I always hated that thin” Ben scrunched his nose in disgust,” May you find light in the darkness? or whatever bullshit dad wrote? You couldn’t even tell it was me!”   
“Oh...well..ok then”

 **Knocking down Ben’s statue was enough to startle Luther back to reality, but not Diego, who pulled one of his blades out,**   
**“Diego no!” Vanya screamed at him as he threw it, the blade slicing through** **Luther's** **thick coat and flesh.**

 **Luther looked down at his arm, quickly covering the cut with his hand, it** **wasn’t** **a deep or serious cut, but it** **wasn’t** **the wound Luther was worried about, but the flash of thick hairy skin beneath.** **Almost in** **a panic, he stumbled away, hand clenched tight over the cut.**   
**“You never know when to stop do you?” Vanya scolded Diego, who just glared at her in response,**   
**“You got enough material for your sequel yet?” he spat cruelly** Which earned him a smack from Allision   
“ **He was my father too” she responded bluntly before she too turned to walk back inside,**

 **“** You tell him Van-Van!" Klaus cheered,   
“What happened to letting go of shit” Diego muttered,   
“I’m just encouraging our baby sister to stand up for herself” Klaus informed him, “In a healthy non-world-ending manner”   
“I’m the same age as you” Vanya pointed out amused,   
“Are we though?” Allision asked suddenly, “We’ve all lived a different amount of years now”   
“Wait shit you’re right!” Klaus gasped, turning to Ben, “Benny-boy, your one help me work out how old we all are now!”   
“Do we really have the time?” Five scoffed, but was promptly ignored.

“Five is the oldest obviously at 58, Klaus landed in the sixties first, plus he spent a year in Vietnam” Ben started,   
“Wait” Luther cut him off, “Vietnam?”   
“We’ll explain later” Ben waved him off,” So Klaus would be 34. Allision landed in sixty-one so she is next at 32. Luther was a year later so he is 31. Diego landed September 1963 and was there 3 months so he is still 30. Vanya landed in October, so that’s two months, so also still 30”    
He then turned to Deigo with a wide shit-eating grin,   
“You’re officially the second youngest Di-Di" he teased,   
“What?! No!” He shouted in denial as Klaus whooped,   
“And Vanya you are in fact the youngest” He added on, grinning as she pouted at him.

“You children can argue about it later” Five cut in, “I’d like to finish this episode sometime this century.   
They relented, settling back down while Diego continued to glare at Ben and Klaus, who smiled back sweetly.

 **Diego huffed, before walk towards their mom, who had been standing the entire time, staring blissfully into space, he immediately softened as he took her gently by the elbow,**   
**“Mom” He coaxed her to follow, “Let’s go inside. Come on, okay” He spoke softly as he led her back into the warm dry safety of the house.**

 **Leaving Klaus alone on a stone bench under his clear pinked rimmed umbrella, taking a deep drag of his cigarette as Deigo passed. Once his brother was gone he stood, walking towards then crouching down beside the pile of ash that was their father,**   
**“I bet you’re loving this. Hmm?” he rocked on his heels, “The team at its best. It’s just like old times”**   
**He took one final drag of his cigarette, being snubbing it out in the final of ashes,**   
**“Best funeral ever” he declared.**

Luther restrained himself from commenting on the extreme disrespect shown, as much as he was coming to hate his father...even this seemed to be crossing a line,   
“Hey I could have pissed on it!” Klaus immediately defended,   
“I wasn’t going to say anything” Luther frowned,   
“Oh... well ok then” he settled down.

** They were treated to the sound of their  ** ** father's ** ** voice once more, as another title card flashed on screen **

** 17 years ago **

  
**“Nietzsche once said, ‘** ** _man is as a rope stretched between the animal and the superhuman. A rope over an abyss. It is a dangerous crossing, a dangerous looking-back and a dangerous trembling and halting”_**   
**_“_** What does that even mean” Klaus whined, “Why did he always speak in riddles” before turning to Ben, “What does that mean Ben?”   
“I-” he frowned, “Honestly have no idea. Five?”   
“Beats me” Five shrugged, “Philosophy was always lost on me”

 **They watched as their father and Vanya stood at the top of a staircase, while the other six waited at the bottom. At the blow of the whistle they all shot off, racing up the** **stair** **, pushing and shoving so not to be the last to cross the finish line, their father’s voice over started again,**   
**“** ** _As much as you must strive for individual greatness, and strive you must, for when it won’t come to you of its own accord...you must also remember there is no individual stronger than the collective”_**

 _“_ Not true” Klaus interrupted, “I’d definitely Vanya was a hella of a lot stronger than the rest of us”   
Vanya gave him a pained look at once more being reminded of how she had come very close to killing them all, twice.   
“You know” Allision said carefully, ”For all dad would go on about the strength of the collective, he spent more time trying to tear us apart then push us together”   
“Of course he did” Diego snorted,   
“We would have been too hard to control if we were actually allowed to work together” Five pointed out, “Just imagine how much grief he’d have if Luther stubbornness was turned against him, rather than used as a weapon”

Luther looked down in thought with a frown, how different would things have been if instead of  aggressively defending their father...he had instead defended his siblings.

**Five warped from his place in the middle to several steps in front of the leader, which had been Diego,**   
**“That’s not fair! Five’s cheating!” he shouted**   
**“He adapted!” Reginald snapped**

 **“** See!” Allision pointed out, “If we were a collective, we should have been encouraged to move together as a team, not try and outcompete each other!”   
“Yeah well, we’ve established dad was an ass” Luther shrugged.

What was shown next was too much for them to properly watch, Reginald continued to speak over the scene but they paid no attention to it. It was the day they got their tattoos. The buzzing of the needle drawing a thick sick twisting in their guts. Allisions sobs as she clutched her arm,  cradled in Klaus’s arms who was trying so hard not to cry. They watched as the remaining siblings sat, trying to hide the fear in their eyes from their father.

Vanya almost threw up as she watched as she stood on top of the staircase, drawing the symbol on her arm in sharpie. Her siblings were suffering, and scared and she just ignores all of that in favour of her own selfish suffering,   
“I’m sorry,” she said for what had to be the thousandth time,   
“Don’t be” Allision reached over to grab her hand immediately, “I’m glad you didn’t have to be hurt as well...” it wasn’t even the tattoo itself, she realized that Vanya had been excluded from. It was the experience, the shared trauma that bond the six of them together, a bond Vanya had purposely been kept from.

“How about this” Klaus threw an arm around Vanya’s shoulders, “When we get out of here, if we get out of here, we’ll find a nice tattoo parlour and get you a cattle brand to match”   
“It’s fine” Vanya smiled softly at him, “I got over it eventually”

It was a little easier to stomach watching their father hook them up to various machines and monitor them in their sleep. Just a little though. Five shot a glance at Ben, who looked back giving a small nod in confirmation that he had caught it as well. Vanya’s  monitor had been through the roof. Both brothers stored that information away for a later date.

** Finally, ** ** back to the present day, **

**Vanya was standing in the atrium, having collected her coat and scarf as she prepared to leave,**   
**“Don’t waste your time” she turned to Pogo who was walking towards her. "Diego's right I shouldn’t have come”**   
**“This is your home and always will be” Pogo stated firmly,**   
**“** Unless dad decides to replace us before we are born that is” She muttered under her breath Klaus must have heard from the choked laugh he made.   
“ **Shall I get you a taxi?” He asked,**   
**“I already called on. But thanks”, as she said it, a car outside honked, “That’s me”**   
**“Uh” Pogo paused for a moment, “I hope you know your father loved you very much. In his own way”**

 **“** He was incapable of loving anyone” Diego muttered,   
“He loved himself” Luther pointed out carefully, “And his routine”   
But not them.

“ **Yeah, well** **, that’s kind of the problem isn’t it?” Vanya hit the nail on the head, “Take care of yourself”**   
**“You as well, Miss Vanya”**   
**He sighed softly as he watched her go, following slowly behind as he watched he board the taxi and leave. He gave one last lingering look to the disappearing car, before closing the door.**

Vanya felt her chest tighten once more, watching  Pogo’s face closely, trying to find some shred of a sign that he was acting or lying. She couldn’t bring herself to confront the idea that he truly looked remorseful and that the way he looked at her was with genuine care.

**Back in the kitchen Five was looking through the shelves and cupboards, huffing when he was unable to locate what he was after,**   
**“Where’s Vanya?” Allision asked as she walked into the room,**   
**“Oh, she’s gone” Klaus informed her,**   
**“That’s unfortunate” Five announced,**   
**“Yeah” Allision agreed,**   
**“An entire square block, forty-two bedrooms, nineteen bathrooms but no, not a single drop of coffee” he** **continued on** **.**

Five winced as from the corner of his eye Vanya  deflated a little more, since regaining her memories her  self-confidence had taken a hit, falling back to where it had been before Dallas. Something he was  determined to fix.

“ **Dad hated** **caffeine,** **” Allision said,**   
**“Well he hated children too and he had plenty of us” Klaus laughed. Five nodded for a moment,**   
**“I’m taking the car” he declared,**   
**“Where are you going?” Klaus asked confused,**   
**“To get a decent cup of coffee” the idiot was implied**   
**“Do you even know how to drive?” Allision asked with arms crossed,**   
**“I know how to do everything” Five confidently** **stated** **.**

 **“** Except get us back to the correct time on the first go” Luther couldn’t help but say,   
“Or successfully communicate your plans” Diego added on,   
“Or feelings” Allision had her piece   
“If that’s how you feel, next time I’ll leave you behind” Five snapped crossing his arms.

 **Five** **warped** **before either of them were able to protest further,**   
**“I feel like we should try and stop him” Klaus said as he stood up, “But then again, I also just** **kinda** **want to see what happens”**   
**An engine starting outside indicated that Five indeed gotten into the car, and at the very least knew how to turn it on. As the stood there considering if they should do anything Diego walked in, heading towards the table to grab the last of the cookies their mom had made,**   
**“All right,** **I guess I’ll** **see you guys in, what, ten years? When Pogo dies?” He said cooly,**   
**“Not f you die first” Allision shot back,**   
**“Yeah, love you too sis. Good luck on your next film. Hope it turns out better than your marriage, huh?”**

 **“** Ow!” Diego yelped when yet another bean bag was thrown at his head, “Jesus Christ Allision”   
“I didn’t hit you then so I’m hitting you now” She shrugged,

“ **Are-- are we leaving?” Klaus asked as he followed close behind Diego,**   
**“No,** ** _I’m_** **leaving, by myself” he stated firmly,**   
**“Oh, fabulous! I’ll get my things!” Klaus clapped happily., running off to grab said things.**

** “ ** I should have walked faster” Diego  muttered as he watched as Klaus caught up to him, throwing the door to his car open before he even had the chance to put the key in the ignition.

“ **You know, every time I close my eyes, I see a diarrhetic hippo about to shit on my face” Klaus gleefully informed his brother, “It’s terrifying!”**   
**“Terrific” Diego said unenthusiastically** **,” Lean** **back” he warned Klaus as he put the car in drive.**

 **Luther watched Diego drive away from the window of his room, when the car was out of** **sight,** **he finally turned his attention to the cut on his arm, he had taken his outer clothes off, but left on the undershirt, gazing down at the bleeding wound on his thick dark hairy arms. He let out another sigh.**   
**“** Hey man if I knew...” Diego started,   
“You couldn’t have known” Luther cut him off, “Seriously...don’t worry about it”   
“See” Diego turned to Allision, “Luther can let go of shit I did and said without hitting me!”   
“Good for Luther" Allision smirked at him.

Turning back to the screen, they watched as their mother settled down in her chair, gazing upon her paintings,   
“all of that time and he couldn’t even give her, her own room” Diego muttered.

 **They watched as Five pulled the car into the parking lot of** **Griddy’s** **doughnuts, heading inside he took a seat at the counter, ringing the bell to get the** **waitresses** **attention. While he waited an older man walked in, sitting down in the seat next to him,**   
**“** Hey I know that guy!” Klaus said as recognition sparked his eyes,   
“What? his siblings turned to him,   
“How?” Five frowned,   
“I saw his ghost when...fuck what’s their names...ha-ha and chazel..” he trailed off snapping his fingers,   
“Cha-cha and hazel?” Five supplied,   
“Yeah them! I saw his ghost while they were torturing me!” he suddenly cringed, “Not a nice death either”

“Tortured? Vanya squeaked beside him, he waved off her concern,   
“Long story I’m sure we will get to it”

 **The** **waitress** **walked up to where they were sitting,**   
**“Sorry sink was clogged” she explained, “So, what’ll be?” she addressed the man,**   
**“uh, give me a chocolate eclair” the man ordered,**   
**“Mm-hmm, sure” she nodded, “Can I get the kid a glass of milk or something?” she then pointed at Five.**   
**“The kid wants coffee. Black” Five said firmly**   
**“Cute kid” the** **waitress** **laughed,** **Five** **gave her what he considered to be a charming smile.**

 **“** You look like you’re about to eat the poor woman” Allision playfully scolded while Klaus howled in laughter over the glass of milk comment,   
“Yeah buddy you might want to try smiling with a bit less teeth” Diego teased.

 **Five sighed, looking around the dark restaurant,**   
**“I don ‘t remember this place being such a shithole” he commented, “I used to come here as a kid. Used to sneak out my** **brothers and sisters** **and eat doughnuts until we** **puked** **” he nodded as the nostalgia washed over him “Simpler times, huh?”**   
**“Eh” the man** **didn‘** **t** **seem** **to know** **what to say** **,” I** **suppose”**

“I think you freaked him out a bit there” Vanya teased as she poked him,   
Instead of glaring at her like he would have the others he instead huffed and rolled his eyes. Klaus muttered something about ‘favouritism’ under his breath.

 **The** **waitress** **returned with Five’s coffee and the** **man's** **eclair** **,**   
**“I got his” the man offered,**   
**“Thanks" Five stared at him a moment, before taking a sip of his coffee, “You must know your way around the city” he noted**   
**“I hope so. I’ve been driving it for twenty years” he sounded proud,**   
**“Good. I need an address”**

 **“** You know a please and thank you would go a long way” Ben raised an eyebrow at him   
“I got what I needed” Five pointed out, “Wasn’t about to waste time fucking about”   
“Why would you need an address?” Luther frowned,   
“To follow a lead obviously” he rolled his eyes.

 **Five folded the address placing it in his pocket, as he reached to finally have another sip of his coffee when the restaurant was suddenly filled with fully armed men,**   
**“Well that was fast” he said putting his coffee back down as the man closest to him pointed his gun to Fives head, “I thought I’d have more time before they found me”**   
**“** The Commission?” Diego guessed,   
Five nodded in response,   
“They’re gonna need more than a few guys with guns” Diego snorted.

“ **Okay” the man said** **calmly** **, “So** **let’s** **all be professional about this,** **yeah** **? On your feet and come with us. They want to talk.”**   
**“I got nothing to say” Five replied,**   
**“It** **doesn’t** **have to go this way” the man tried again, “You think I want to shoot a kid? Go home with that on my conscience”**   
**“Well I wouldn’t worry about that.” Five sighed, “You won’t be going home”**

 **“** Jesus Christ Five” Allisions draw dropped as she watched as Five toyed with the Assassins before killing them off violently one by one,   
“Look at our little psycho go!” Klaus cheered as he hummed along to the music playing along to the mindless violence.

They had all known on some level that Five had a violent streak in him, and again had a vague idea of what he did at  the commission and what it involved. It was something else entirely to watch their thirteen-year-old brother absolutely slaughter the men, like a cat playing with poor defenceless mice. Ans sure they had all killed at some point in their lives, none of their hands was free of blood...but the only one who ever came close to this level of violence had been The Horror living in Ben’s belly.

**They watched as Five picked up the tracking device, the dots connecting how they were able to catch him so quickly. He acted promptly, pulling up his sleeve revealing his forearm, with little hesitation he took one of the would-be** **assassins'** **knives making a shallow cut into his arm, before digging his fingers in to pull out the tracking device.**   
**“** Oh Five” Vanya had turned an alarming shade of pale as she watched the gruesome scene, for a moment his heart jumped in panic, thinking her powers were activating, it settled when she turned her brown eyes to him in concern. Not powers, just shock.   
He shrugged it off before she could comment further, not wanting to be further coddled than he needed to be.

 **They were taken next to Diego, his car parked beside the river as he stood on the edge of the** **wharf** **, in his hands was the cursed** **monocle** **,** **Luther's** **early words playing,**   
**“Yoo-hoo Diego!” Klaus called out as he stuck his head out of the window, “I hate to rush you through any kind of brooding moment you might be having, but come on man, we’re starving!” He whined.**

** Falling back into his seat he let out a sigh, **

**“** Wait who the hell is that?!” Diego frowned a moment staring at the hooded figure sitting next to Klaus, ”There was no one else in the car that night it was only me and Klaus--”   
It hit him as Ben turned to raise an eyebrow at him,   
“Wait. Wait it’s you?” He asked confused,” You were there that night?”   
“Of course I was” Ben rolled his eyes, “I was always around when Klaus was”   
“For how long?” Luther frowned,   
“Since my funeral” Ben shrugged, “Klaus did tell you but none of you believed him”   
“Yeah because he was always high!” Luther defended,   
“His powers never worked when he was high” Allison quickly jumped in to explain further.   
“Well not Benny-roo apparently.” Klaus shrugged, “Nothing I do was enough to get rid of him”   
“Oh...”

“ **I’m craving...” Klaus trailed off, “eggs” he clicked his tongue** **immediately** **changing his mind,**   
**“No! Wait** **it’s** **too late for eggs. Waffles! Huh?” He leaned towards the hooded figure, Ben, “You like waffles, right?” Ben nodded quietly, “Ah of course you** **do. Everyone** **likes waffles”**   
**“** I miss waffles” Ben sighed sadly,

 **Diego dropped the stupid** **monocle** **into the water below as the radio he left sitting on the hood of his car sparked to life, reporting the shooting at** **Griddy’s** **. Grabbing the radio as he walked past he got back into the car,**   
**“Diego thank you for joining us! we have decided on, drum rolls, waffles!” he announced,**   
**“I’m** **gonna** **drop you off at the bus stop. I** **gotta** **get back to work” Diego informed him.**   
**“What, breaking bones and cracking skulls?” he chuckled softly as he fell back into his seat in disappointment,**   
**“Saving lives baby”**   
Luther turned to him with a raised eyebrow,   
“What?" Diego snapped,   
“And you’re telling me you _don't’_ have a hero complex”   
“Go shove it up your arse Luther”

“ ** Well I guess it’s frozen waffles again” Klaus informed Ben, whose face was finally revealed, **

** NUMBER SIX **

** “BEN” **

**Diego adjusted** **his mirror to see who Klaus was talking to, only see an empty seat.**   
**As he drove away the Scene jumped to a dark empty apartment hallway, Vanya’s apartment complex. As she opened the door,** **Five** **suddenly learning on a lamp gave her a bit of a shock,**   
**“Jesus!” She swore after the jump scare passed,**   
**“You should have locks on your windows” Five informed her,**   
**“I live on the second floor”**

 **“** Rapists can climb” Diego pointed out, frowning when Vanya let out an aggravated sigh,   
“ **Rapists can climb” Five echoed him,**   
**“You’re so weird” Vanya sighed as she closed and locked her door.**   
**Once she sat down she finally got a good look at Five, who was sitting cross-legged in the single chair**   
**“Is that blood?” She asked with a concerned look.**   
**Five looked down at his arm briefly before trying to shrug it off,**   
**“It's nothing” he** **brushed** **it off, she glanced between it and him for a moment longer deciding to leave it for now.**

  
**“** **Why** **are you** **here?” she asked, Five readjusted himself,**   
**“I’ve decide you’re the only one I can trust” he settled on,**   
**“Why me?” she asked with a frown.**

** “ ** Yeah why her?” Luther asked without thinking, “No offence! I mean at the time we thought...you were you know...” he decided to shut up before he dug a hole too deep,

“ **Because** **you're** **ordinary” the answer hit Vanya right where it hurt, “Because you’ll listen” he amended**   
**“Okay” she nodded before getting up, she gathered up the supplies she needed from the bathroom. It** **wasn’** **t the best job, but she knew enough first aid patch him at least. As she carefully started to wipe away the blood, he started speaking,**   
**“When I jumped forward, and got stuck in the future do you know what I found?”**   
**“No” She shook her head,**   
**“Nothing” he said heavily, “absolutely nothing”**

His siblings gasped in shock when the scene jumped to thirteen-year-old Five standing in the middle of a ruined and burning street, he looked so small and helpless in the middle of the destruction and chaos   
“Jesus”   
Vanya’s eyes fill with tears when the realization hits her, she causes this. This was her fault.

“ ** As far as I could tell, I was the last person left alive, I never figured out what killed  ** ** the human race ** ** , but I did find something. The date it happens. The world ends in eight days,  ** ** and ** ** I have no idea how to stop it” **

**Vanya stares at** **him in** **complete disbelief, a thousand thoughts running through her brain as she tries to process,**   
**“I'll put on a pot of coffee” she says quietly**

** The screen goes black as a final title card flashes on screen. **

** END OF EPISODE 1. **

The seven siblings sit in silence, gathering their thoughts and emotions, if that was episode one...how much more emotional was it going to get?   
“I think” Klaus announced, “I have more than earned a drink. And food”   
“Food is probably a good idea” Luther nodded,   
“Waffles?” Ben asks the room, when no one protested he sat up stretched, wincing as his joints pulled painfully, he wasn’t used to feeling...well anything just yet.

“Vanya you coming?” Five’s voice snapped her out of deep thoughts, she quickly wiped the tears from her eyes nodding,   
“Yeah I’m coming”

\------

In another time and reality, Fortuna sat in a chair, eyes gazing over the greens in front of her, occasionally tapping at the keyboard in front of her. It had been a long time since she had done this, it was taking some time to get used to.   
“You know you’ve really made a mess of my job,” a man’s voice said from behind her,   
“How so Des?” she hummed, turning to face the tall dark man, a frown permanently etched into his face,   
“The timelines are an absolute mess of chaos, and every new choice or decision births a new timeline to manage. Timelines are being created faster than we can record them!” he snapped,   
“That's how it was always meant to be Des” she informed him, “Even with your commission’s dedication...condensing all of this” she waved her hands at the impossibly countless many screens,” Into one clean timeline just wasn’t sustainable.”

He snorted,   
“It would have been if you just let it” she turned and smiled at him,   
“We both know that I couldn’t”   
“Yeah yeah, it’s against the nature of what you are” he let out a sigh, running a hand through his thick braids, before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a small flash drive, “This is what you wanted?”   
“You managed to salvage it!” She brightened,   
“As much of it as I could...the commission is very efficient” he stated proudly,   
“I would expect no less from you Des” she smiled warmly at him.

He waved her off,   
“Yeah whatever, don’t think I won’t be collecting on these debts” He glanced at his watch with a groan, "I need to get back, I have an impossible amount of paperwork now thanks to you”   
“Just like old times”

She turned back to her task, eyes flickering between the  screens , before settling on one small tv set to the side. She smiled fondly as she waved the Hargreeve siblings sit around a table assembling waffles. The debt was absolutely worth it.

If they so  choose of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also if you enjoy this premise I highly recommend you check out
> 
> How to Stop the Apocalypse  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/18214340/chapters/43090316
> 
> this future sucks and we’re going to change it  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/23636689/chapters/56729725
> 
> EDIT: 14/10/20  
> Just a quick update for new readers as Ive had quite a few people commenting.
> 
> Yes! I will be updating this story, the next chapter is being very slowly worked on! 
> 
> I am entering final exam season at my university, I had a language oral test in 2 days, a final exam at the end of the month and a final exam on the 5th of November. 
> 
> So between now and the 5th of November I am dedicating all my time and energy on study and revision for these final tests and exams and as such will not be writing anything for this fic. Once I am done with my exams I will be taking about a week or so to crash and literally do nothing.
> 
> I will return to actively working on this fic around mid-November.
> 
> This story isnt abandoned, in fact I have several subplots planned already and a sequel is also being plotted as we speak.
> 
> I thank all of you for your patience, and i promise the wait will be worth it


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